Lesser Whitethroat

In Keoladeo NP in India our guide Ashok identified a lesser whitethroat, a lifer for me. It is a widespread Old World warbler  which winters in Africa, just south of the Sahara, and Arabia and India. We saw it in November, so it was obviously wintering there. 

Lesser whitethroat range from Birds of the World. Light blue is wintering and orange is breeding. 

There are six subspecies. The descriptions of where they are located is not great, particularly when you consider that it has a smaller wintering range which means multiple subspecies could be found there. It appears that we could have seen ssp. althaea, Hume's whitethroat, which is found in Iran and southern Turkmenistan to northern Pakistan and central Asia, but it could be several others. Birds of the World has illustrations of five of the subspecies and Hume's looks as much like my photo as any of them. 

Hume's lesser whitethroat, illustration from Birds of the World. 

 

It has a gray back, whitish underparts, a gray head with a darker "bandit mask" through the eyes and a white throat. 

White-Breasted Waterhen

I'd previously seen a white-breasted waterhen in Bundala NP, Sri Lanka in March 2019, but got a poor, blurry photo. In November 2025 we were in Keoladeo NP in India and got a great view of a white-breasted waterhen out of the water, so we got a particularly good view of its gangly feet. 

The white-breasted waterhen is in the rail and crake family. It has primarily dark gray upperparts and flanks; a white face, neck, breast and lower belly; rufous rear flanks, vent and undertail coverts; long yellow toes, a yellowish green bill with a red culmen, and a short tail. The bill can change color by age and season. The adult bill is usually brightish green-yellow with a duskier culmen and can become brighter yellow during breeding. At the base of the culmen a brownish to reddish shield develops during the first year. In breeding adults, the shield enlarges to extend up the forehead and becomes bright red, with the red extending to the base of the culmen and sometimes the base of the lower mandible. 

Illustration of ssp. phoenicurus from Birds of the World, found in Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka to east China, Taiwan, Japan and south through southeastern Asia and Philippines to the Greater Sundas. This is the ssp. we saw. 

Range map from Birds of the World. 

Gray Francolin

We recently saw the gray francolin in Keoladeo NP and in Ranthambore NP in India. They are a lot like quail with a run first attitude, but are more run than flight than the quail. I was particularly struck by this in Ranthambore when a vehicle on a hill behind us crested and flushed a group of francolins. Several ran down the hill in front of the vehicle much like Indiana Jones being chased by a large rolling boulder. They were introduced to the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s as game birds. The introductions on the mainland failed, but they have established themselves in the Hawaiian Islands. They have also been called the gray partridge. Our guide in Ranthambore continually referred to them as partridges. 

There are three subspecies. We saw interpositus which is found in east Pakistan, north India and Nepal. It is barred and the face is pale with a thin black border on the throat. Males can have up to two spurs on the legs and females usually lack them. They have been domesticated in areas of northern India and domesticated birds can be twice the size. They are used for fighting. When reared by hand they can become as tame as a pet dog. There is something quite pleasing about them. I think I would have liked one as a pet as a boy. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Bluethroat

The bluethroat is part of the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in wet birch wood or bushy swamp in Europe and across the Palearctic (across Europe and Asia north of the foothills of the Himalayas and North Africa) and western Alaska. It winters in the Iberian Peninsula, the northern half of Africa and southern Asia, including the Indian subcontinent. It is often called a chat. I saw this female bluethroat in Keoladeo NP in India.

It is plain brown above, except for the tail that has black outer corners and red basal side patches. It has a white supercilium and males have a throat pattern with a glossy blue throat bordered with a narrow black band and a broad red band below that. There is often a central spot, either red or white, in the middle of the blue throat. There are either seven (Shirihai) or eleven (IOC) subspecies that differ in the extent and intensity of the blue on the throat in the males and whether the blue has a central spot, or not, and if it does, the color of the spot. The nominate subspecies Luscinia svecica svecica, the one I saw in Keoladeo NP in India, is known as the red-spotted bluethroat and breeds in the subarctic shrub tundra from Scandinavia east to western Alaska and winters in southern Asia in India, Pakistan and the Middle East. The throat is blue with a red spot. 

Illustration of a female of the nominate subspecies from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from the nominate subspecies from Birds of the World. 

Photo of a female in Keoladeo NP in India from Wikipedia. 

Range from Birds of the World.

White-Eared Bulbul

In Keoladeo NP in India I encountered a white-eared bulbul for the first time.

The white-eared bulbul has a brownish-gray body and appears rotund. The tail tapers outwards, starting black and ending in white tips. The head and throat are black with an area around the cheeks having a large white spot. The eye-ring is bare and it has a short beak. The legs are bluish-gray to slaty black. The vent is bright yellow, but none of my photos capture that. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

It is found in far-western India, much of Pakistan, southern Afghanistan, coastal Iran and portions of Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. 

Range map from Birds of the World.

Brahminy Starling

Shortly before our 2025 trip to India I was looking at some publication with photos of birds of India or Asia and saw a photo of a brahminy starling. It had crazy unruly feathers, like a mop-headed rockstar, and I thought it would be fun to see one. I was truly excited in Keoladeo NP when our guide, Ashok, pointed into a tree and said it was a brahminy starling. I took lots of photos. 

As an American I tend to look down upon starlings as we have the European starling which is an over-abundant pest. But I get overseas and many of the most fun and beautiful birds are starlings, including the myna (they used to sell the common myna as a pet at Western Gardens in Salt Lake City when I was growing up and I always think of it as the talking bird). The brahminy starling is also known as the brahminy myna. It has a long wispy black crest of crown feathers, a black forehead and primaries; cinnamon nape, chin, throat and underparts; gray mantle, back, rump, tail and wings; pale green iris; a bare patch of whitish skin behind the eye; bluish base of bill and distally (further out) yellow. The female is like the male, but has a shorter crest and a darker mantle. 

More, but less unruly, photos. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

River Tern

The river tern is also known as the Indian river tern. It has dark gray upperparts; white or very pale gray underparts; a forked tail with long streamers; long pointed wings with pale gray primaries; a stout bill that is bright yellow during breeding and duller yellow with a dusky tip in non-breeding; bright red legs; a black cap in breeding extending below the eye, that lightens to grayish white flecked and streaked with black in non-breeding; a dark mask through the eye and the two longest outer tail feathers are also lost in non-breeding, giving it a shorter tail.  

River terns in breeding season in Ranthambore NP, India, Zone 3.

A breeding bird illustration from Birds of the World.

A non-breeding bird illustration from Birds of the World.

Range map from Birds of the World. 

It is found almost exclusively on freshwater, rarely venturing even to tidal creeks. It is found along inland rivers and lakes. We saw these in Ranthambore NP, Zone 3, on the edge of a small lake. There were only a few of them and they did not seem particularly active. They are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN and is uncommon.