In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. The word rural is defined as encompassing "...all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural."

Typical rural areas have a low population densities and small settlements or villages. Agricultural areas too are commonly categorised as rural, as are other types of area such as forests. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes.

About a 100 kilometers from the capital city of Hyderabad, Zaheerabad is one such industrial town and Municipal Council in the Sangareddy district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the base for visitors of ancient sacred religious sites like the Ketaki Sangameshwara Swamy Devasthanam (a temple) at Jharasangam, Siddhhi Vinayaka Temple at Rejinthal and Hazrath Multani Baba Dargah (A dargah is a shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish) at Metalkunta.

The Zaheerabad area has many diverse areas for birding and in some instances wildlife watching and observation. In close proximity are the Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, Gottamgutta, Karanja Reservoir and the Chandrampally Dam and Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary just over the border in Karnataka. I have had the good fortune to spend a fair bit of time at all these locations and have obtained some beautiful photos with the help of the Forest Officers and Rangers.

Some of these locations are home to migrants and seasonal visitors and every experience of seeing a new bird provides a rush that one can only feel by doing something they love. As I mentioned in my last blog, bird and wildlife watching is a great form of recreation for people of all ages and always provides an opportunity to learn something new.

This is an extended video and some photos from a recent visit to the rural countryside surrounding Zaheerabad.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #Zaheerabad, #ruralcountryside, #countryside, #manjeerawildlifesanctuary, #manjirawildlifesanctuary, #manjira, #manjeera

Birdwatching can bring a lot of joy, peace, and relaxation to any wildlife enthusiast, and provide a sense of excitement when seeing something new. Every experience of seeing a new bird provides a rush to the birder that one can only feel by doing something they love.

A twitcher however, is a type of birder who seeks to add as many species as possible to their life list, often without detailed or long-term observation of individual birds. Instead, twitchers are often characterised as being satisfied only with achieving a confirmed identification as quickly as possible. These types of birders are regularly associated with poor birding ethics, though that generalisation does not apply universally to every twitcher and only serves to promote controversy and discord about this type of birding.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #Twitching, #Twitcher, #Ethics, #Chasing

The Golden-throated Barbet is an Asian barbet native to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits foremost forests between 900 and 2,700 m. It is a large green barbet with a broad black bandit’s mask, a pale gray face, and a black-and-yellow crown. Usually encountered foraging quietly or sitting still in the canopy. The song is usually a long steady series of loud hiccupping two-syllabled hoots, but these sometimes sound more plaintive and whistled.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #Goldenthroatedbarbet, #barbet, #thailand, #doiSanju, #DoiLuang, #ChiangMai, #Fang

The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. Native to densely vegetated habitats in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, its popularity as a cage-bird and songster has led to it being introduced in places like Hawaii & Taiwan. It was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, causing it to be commonly known as the white-rumped shama thrush or simply shama thrush.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #whiterumpedshama, #shama, #KaengKrachanNationalPark, #Thailand

The Mesia, also called Silver-eared Mesia, or Silver-ear (Leiothrix argentauris) is a song bird of the babbler family Timaliidae. It is found from Pakistan through the Indochinese peninsula in scrub and secondary jungle. This 15 centimetre (6 inch) long bird is olive above and yellow below, with a black crown, silver ear patches, and some crimson on the tail. In groups of 6 to 30 it travels about the forest bushes and canopy seeking berries and peering under leaves for insects. Four eggs are laid in a cup-shaped nest. The mesia has a sweet, whistling song and is sometimes kept as a cage bird.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #silverearedmesia, #Mesia, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

The Fire-tufted Barbet is a beautiful emerald-green barbet with silvery cheeks, a white forehead, and a black chinstrap. A small and often difficult to see reddish tuft above the base of the bill gives the bird its name. The bulbous horn-coloured bill has a large dark smudge down the center and it has a strange song which is a loud accelerating creaking that is reminiscent of rusty machinery revving up.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #firetuftedbarbet, #barbet, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

The Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) is a brightly coloured bird of dense evergreen forests, usually seen perched quietly on a mid-story perch. It varies in coloration throughout its range but always follows the same general color scheme with the male with a dark red head & belly, a brown back, and barred black-and-white wings. The female has a brown head and a faded-red belly. Both sexes, when seen from below, have a sharply contrasting and graduated black-and-white tail pattern as can be seen in my photos here. It is a sluggish and shy bird typically stationary and difficult to see. The best way to spot it is to listen for its high-pitched gulping hoots.

#wildartworks, #Canon, #PromediagearTR424L, #Bird, #Birdinginthewild, #BirdWatching, #Wildlife, #WildBirds, #naturephotography, #your_best_birds, #planetbirds, #earthcapture, #photo_pond, #earthpix, #naturyst, #conservationphotography, #wildlifeonearth, #bbcearth, #natgeowild, #natgeoindia, @awpc.hk, #animalsofinstagram, @globalcapture, #redheadedtrogon, #trogon, #BukitFraser, #FrasersHill, #Malaysia

The Indian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur), also known as the Indian Onager and called Khur in the local Gujarati language, is a subspecies of the onager native to Southern Asia. It is currently listed as Near Threatened by IUCN with only 6,082 individuals left.

#wildartworks, #canon, #wildlife, #wildlifephotography, #Dasada, #RannofKutch, #LittleRannofKutch, #Gujarat, #SaltFlat, #TravelPhotography, #WildAssSanctuary, #WildAss, #FlatLand, #SaltMarsh, #Ghudkhur, #IndianOnager, #Khur, #natgeoindia, #NearThreatened, #ConservationPhotography, @awpc.hk, #indian_wildlifes, #indianwildlifeofficial, #wildlifeonearth, #planet_untamed_magazine, #bbcearth, #natgeowild,