Common Pochard

Pochard is a name used used for several species of diving ducks. While in Kaziranga NP in Assam, India I got a photo of one common pochard, among a group of other ducks, just off the perimeter road while driving to the far western Burapahar Range. 

My one poor photo of a common pochard among some tufted ducks. 

The common pochard looks a lot like the canvasback. The male has a chestnut colored head and neck, a black breast and tail and a pale gray back marked with fine vermiculations (resembling the track of a worm). The bill is dark gray with a blue-gray band across the middle. The iris is yellow-orange to red. 

Illustrations of a male common pochard (and a female below) from Birds of the World. 

This range map from Birds of the World shows that the common pochard is widely found through Europe, Asia and Africa and is migratory. 

Oriental Honey Buzzard

The Oriental honey buzzard is also known as the crested honey buzzard, and the Asian and Eastern honey buzzard. There are six subspecies and we saw Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficollis which is found in India and Sri Lanka to Myanmar, Vietnam and southwest China. They primarily eat the larvae of bees and wasps extracted from honey combs. Special adaptations that help them in this endeavor are an elongated head for foraging on underground nests and a groove in the tongue which helps them extract wasp grubs from their comb cells. 

The male has a blue-gray head with a brown iris and the female's head is brown with a yellow iris. 

Male P. p. ruficollis illustration from Birds of the World. 

It winters in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia and spends the summer in Siberia, Korea and Japan. We saw a female in December 2024 in Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Dusky Warbler

The dusky warbler is small with buff underparts, a whitish supercilium and a brown back. It has an orangish-yellow bill. 

Illustration of dusky warbler from Birds of the World. 

It winters in South and Southeast Asia and breeds in Siberia, Mongolia and China.

Range of dusky warbler from Birds of the World.

Oddly enough, the only place I saw it was at our hotel in Guwahati, Assam, India, in a fountain. 

Swamp Francolin

The swamp francolin is a game bird related to the pheasant found in the floodplains of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers from north-central India and southern Nepal east to northeastern India in Assam. 

Swamp francolin range from Birds of the World. Kaziranga NP is located about three-quarters of the way to the right in the range. 

We saw it twice in Kaziranga NP in Asssam, India, both times in the Central Range. In the article in Wikipedia, four of the five photos were taken in Kaziranga NP. It is found in wet grasslands prone to flooding, in tall dense grassland near marshy and swampy areas and in sugarcane plantations around standing water and paddyfields. It is also known as the swamp partridge and when hunted is usually shot from elephants. It is rated as Near Threatened by the IUCN and there may only be 10,000 to 20,000 remaining. Birds of the World notes that it remains common in Kaziranga NP. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

It has a rusty throat and foreneck and contrasting white stripes on the underparts with a rufous vent. The upperparts are overall brown and finely barred rufous and buff. The bill is black, the legs are orange/yellow to red and it has a whitish-buff supercilium. 

This is the first swamp francolin we saw, tucked away among some very tall grass. Our guide had to take quite a while describing it before we could see it. 

Ferruginous Duck

The breeding ferruginous duck has a chestnut head, breast and flanks with white undertail coverts and belly. Females are more brown and dull. Males have a yellow eye and females have a dark eye. 

A male with the lighter eye.

A male ferruginous duck illustration from Birds of the World. It helps to have a good picture to see what my poor photos are trying to portray. 

A female.

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

I saw some at quite a distance in the Central Range of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. It is also known as the common white eye, white-eyed pochard and ferruginous pochard. 

A range map from Birds of the World. Light blue is winter and orange is breeding. At the top east side of India, in Assam, where I was, it was wintering. 

I hope to get some better photos of this duck some day. 

Gray-Backed Shrike

I saw a gray-backed shrike in the Central Range of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. We have loggerhead shrikes in the U.S. which I've seen quite a few of and what struck me as different is the beautiful chest of light orange and yellow and a little longer tail. 

There are two subspecies. I saw Lanius tephronotus tephronotus which breeds from Nepal to northeast India and central and south China. It migrates to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina. 

Illustration of L. t. tephronotus from Birds of the World. 

Range of gray-backed shrike from Birds of the World. 

Great Hornbill

The great hornbill is also known as the concave-casqued hornbill, the great Indian hornbill and the great pied hornbill. Variations among populations are mainly in size and the Himalayan birds are larger than those to the south. Males are larger than females and have red eyes instead of bluish-white eyes, but females have pink orbital skin. They have large eyelashes. They have a yellow and black casque on top of their bill. The casque is concave on top with ridges along the sides that form points on the front. The casque appears U-shaped from the front. The back of the casque is reddish on females and black on males. The casque is hollow and is used by males to casque-butt in flight. 

Illustration of male great hornbill from Birds of the World. Note the black on the back of the casque and the red eye.  

Illustration of a female. Note the pinkish orbital around the eye and red on the back of the casque.

It is found in the forests of India, Bhutan, Nepal, mainland Southeast Asia and Sumatra. It prefers unlogged old-growth forests in hilly regions. 

Range of great hornbill from Birds of the World. 

I saw them twice on our visit to Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. The first was on a drive on the main perimeter road toward the far western Burapahar Range. Our guide spotted it at some distance and I had a hard time seeing it. 

The red eye indicates it is a male. 

The second time was on a drive on the main perimeter road toward the far eastern Range. There were three of them in a tree. 

 

A female with the pink orbital. 

A male with the red eye.

A female with the red back of casque.

Rufous Treepie

Rufous treepie is found in the Indian Subcontinent and corresponding parts of Southeast Asia. It has a cinnamon body with a black head and a long bluish gray tail tipped in black. The wing has a white patch. The underparts and lower back are tawny-brown to orange-brown. The bill, legs and feet are black. 

Range of rufous treepie from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of rufous treepie from Birds of the World. 

I got a poor photo in bad light near Diphlu Lodge near Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. There are a number of subspecies. I saw Dendrositta vagabunda vagabunda, the nominate subspecies. 

Blue-Whistling Thrush

The blue-whistling thrush is found in the mountains of central, south and southeast Asia and China. I saw one near the Diphlu Lodge near Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. 

Range of the blue-whistling thrush from Birds of the World. 

It is dark violet blue with "shiny spangling on the tips of the body feathers other than the lores, abdomen and under the tail." The wing coverts are a different shade of blue and there are white spots on the tips of the median coverts. The tail feathers are black. Both sexes look similar. 

An illustration of  M. c. temminckii from Birds of the World. 

There are six subspecies and I saw Myophonus caeruleus temminckii, found in the mountains of central Asia to central west China and northeast Myanmar. 

I got poor photos in bad light.