The word Halcyon, which is also the genus for Tree #Kingfishers, is a term for peace and tranquillity. Being extremely territorial, these active little birds are anything but tranquil; nor are they quiet, as their calls can often be heard from the tree-tops in an otherwise peaceful wilderness. 

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Myths & misconceptions surround this diminutive bird, which can hide in plain sight despite its dazzling plumage. The most enduring #kingfisher myth owes its 2,000-year history partly to Aristotle, who claimed that the bird made its nest on the sea surface in a period of winter calm.

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#Kingfishers are a family of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order #Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The family contains 114 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. I have been able to photograph a few of these across Asia Pacific with some coming quite easily and some coming after waiting for hours, damp and cold but worth every bit the wait. Featured here are a few species, some easily seen and some rare, threatened and critically endangered.

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Blakiston’s fish owls, the largest living species of #owls in the world, an endangered species that lives in some of the hardest-to-reach corners of northeast Asia. There are thought to be less than 1000 pairs of these birds remaining in the wild, with very few individuals held in captivity. Found only in northeast Asia, this secretive species has a fragmented distribution in the remote forests of Hokkaido in northern Japan, the Russian Far East, and northeastern China. #wildartworks, #Bubo_blakistoni, #birdinginthewild, #birdphotography, #nature, #wildlife, #raptor, #owl, #endangered

Somewhere deep within the Kushiro-shitsugen National Park, in the Kottaro wetlands along the banks of the Kushiro, I found the elusive Ural Owl. Named for the Ural Mountains of Russia which is part of their natural range and where the first specimen was collected, these owls are threatened by humans eliminating the hollow trees they nest in. #WildArtWorks, #UralOwl, #Hokkaido, #BirdPhotography, #Birdinginthewild, #raptor, #owl

Crows are members of the Corvidae family, which also includes ravens, magpies, and blue jays. Loud, rambunctious, and very intelligent, crows are most often associated with a long history of fear and loathing. They are considered pests by farmers trying to protect their crops and seedlings. Many people fear them simply because of their black feathers, which are often associating them with death. But research has demonstrated that crows are actually very social and caring creatures, and also among the smartest animals on the planet. #wildartworks, #crows, #corvidae

The snow leopard, known as the ghost of the mountains, is an elusive predator that has captured the human imagination for eons. Yet, by nature secretive, living at altitudes of up to 19,000 feet in one of the world's harshest environments, it is notoriously difficult to see. Ismail Shariff, one of those lucky enough to encounter one, speaks of the experience as momentous, transformative, even spiritual. #SnowLeopard, #Hemis, #WildArt.Works, #IsmailShariff, #Wildlife

The arrival of a tiger, it’s true, is often preceded by moments of rising tension, because a tiger’s presence changes the jungle around it, and those changes are easier to detect. Bird calls darken. small deer call softly to each other. Herds do not run but drift into shapes that suggest some emerging group consciousness of an escape route. A kind of shiver seems to run through everything, a low hum that sounds — literally, in the murmured Hindi conversation of the guides — like tiger, tiger, tiger. This zone of apprehension follows the tiger as it moves. Often, the best way to find a tiger is to switch off your engine and listen. You might then hear, from a distance, the subtle changes in pitch and cadence that indicate a boundary of the zone. But even then, it is impossible to predict where, or if, the tiger will appear.

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