photographically recording the birds around my bungalow.
I live in Bokel Tea Estate and my bungalow is uniquely placed in many respects.
It is in the middle of a tea garden with its tea bushes and numerous shade trees. For those not familiar with tea estates, tea bushes come up to about the midriff of a man of average height. The bushes are dotted with what are called shade trees as too much direct sunlight is not good for leaf productivity. These bushes and trees provide excellent cover for numerous mammals such as leopards or panthers who use the drainage system for hiding their cubs and to generally move around unnoticed. I have also seen wildcats, mongoose, hares, flying squirrels, monkeys and not to mention snakes. Needless to say it also provides excellent cover for numerous birds.
At the edge of the Estate are paddy fields and villages. These provide a slightly different environment with a lot of small and medium ponds which host some water birds. During the monsoons the water covered paddy fields also play host to a number of these birds. The houses in the villages have their own fruit bearing trees and bamboo thickets which also provide cover and food to a large number of birds. Added to the above is the fact that the bungalow is quite close to Dibrugarh town and hence we also have birds which are found in an urban setting.
I have, so far, recorded 74 species and they are listed below. All of these have been recorded within a radius of 2 km from my bungalow and most of them happen to be chance encounters during my morning walks.
Needless to say there are several other species that I have not yet seen or even if seen have not recognised. Hence the search goes on and I hope to score a century soon!!
1. Ashy Drongo
2. Asian Barred Owlet
3. Asian Koel
4. Asian Openbill
5. Asian Pied Starling
6. Besra
7. Black Drongo
8. Black Kite
9. Black-hooded Oriole
10. Blue-throated Barbet
11. Bronze Winged Jacana
12. Brown Shrike
13. Cattle Egret
14. Chestnut-tailed Starling
15. Cinnamon Bittern
16. Common Cuckoo
17. Common Kingfisher
18. Common Myna
19. Common Tailorbird
20. Coppersmith Barbet
21. Cotton Pygmy-Goose
22. Daurian Redstart
23. Eurasian Hoopoe
24. Forest Wagtail
25. Great Egret
26. Greater Flameback
27. Grey-backed Shrike
28. Grey-breasted Prinia
29. Hair-crested Drongo
30. Hill Myna
31. House Crow
32. House Sparrow
33. Indian Cuckoo
34. Indian Pond-Heron
35. Indian Roller
36. Intermediate Egret
37. Jerdon's Baza
38. Jungle Crow
39. Jungle Myna
40. Large Cuckoo-shrike
41. Lesser Adjutant
42. Little Egret
43. Long-tailed Shrike
44. Oriental Honey-Buzzard
45. Oriental Magpie-Robin
46. Oriental White-eye
47. Paddyfield Pipit
48. Pheasant Tailed Jacana
49. Plaintive Cuckoo
50. Purple Swamphen
51. Red-breasted Flycatcher
52. Red-vented Bulbul
53. Red-wattled Lapwing
54. Red-whiskered Bulbul
55. Rose-ringed Parakeet
56. Rufous Treepie
57. Rufous-tailed Shrike
58. Scaly-breasted Munia
59. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
60. Siberian Stonechat
61. Spotted Dove
62. Spotted Owlet
63. Tickell's Leaf-Warbler
64. Watercock
65. White Wagtail
66. White-breasted Waterhen
67. White-rumped Munia
68. White-throated Kingfisher
69. White-vented Myna
70. Yellow Bittern
71. Yellow Wagtail
72. Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon
73. Lesser Whistling-Duck
74. Jungle Owlet
