Indian Gray Hornbill

When we first arrived at Keoladeo NP, my brothers-in-law, Stan and David, and I moved along a road toward our motorized rickshaw. Our wives left with the van to check into our hotel. From the road, our guide Ashok pointed into a large tree and said "gray hornbill." I kind of dismissed it, "Oh, I've seen them before," but I went over and took a few photos. I keep forgetting that in birding, geography is important. It turns out that the Indian gray hornbill which I was being introduced to is quite a bit different than the African gray hornbill I'd previously seen on several occasions. This has happened to me a number of times. I see a bird that looks very familiar and dismiss it as a bird I've seen before, then learn it is a new species I've not seen before with very subtle or not-so-subtle differences. Geography, even relatively short distances, such as in the Galapagos Islands, can work changes in similar birds. And Africa to India is a little more distant than the different islands are from each other in the Galapagos!

Indian gray hornbill in Keoladeo NP. 

The Indian gray hornbill is a silvery-gray and white hornbill with a long and graduated tail with a light tip. The male has a blackish bill and narrow casque, with a protruding front edge. The bill tip and much of the lower mandible are pale yellow. There is bare gray skin around the eyes and the eyes are reddish-brown. The female is smaller, the casque is less prominent, and the eyes are browner. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

To be honest, I don't see the difference between the male and female, except for the eye color. Based on the eye color, the Indian gray hornbill I saw was a male. Below, I have photos of African gray hornbills, the first one in Etosha NP in Namibia and the second from Kidepo Valley NP in Uganda. Differences in the bill and casque, alone, make them quite distinguishable from the Indian version. 

Range map for the Indian gray hornbill from Birds of the World. 

One interesting note, it frequently competes with the rose-ringed parakeet for nest-holes and will even eat the parakeet's chicks and throw out the nest lining. 

Orange-Headed Thrush

We were in Keoladeo NP in India with our guide, Ashok, driving in a motorized rickshaw, when Ashok got quite excited about an orange headed bird with a blue body that popped up along the side of the dirt road. "An orange-headed thrush" he said with enthusiasm. I tried to quickly pull up my camera for a photo and the bird disappeared below the berm on the road which bordered on a swamp. The rickshaw stopped, we got out to look over the berm and the bird flew across the road into the swamp on the other side. I could see the bird moving around, then lost it. Ashok asked to borrow my camera and took several photos. One photo worked, the others were blurry. We spent quite a bit more time looking for the elusive bird as it moved about the swampy ground through fallen trees and some brush. I got such a good view of it on the side of the road, just not quick enough with my camera.

An illustration of nominate ssp. citrina from Birds of the World. 

There are about 12 subspecies of the orange-headed thrush, all beautiful, and quite varied. It is often found in damp areas, near streams, in moist broadleaved evergreen woodlands, with a medium-density undergrowth of bushes and ferns. The nominate subspecies, which I saw, has an entirely orange head and underparts, grayish-blue upperparts and wings, slate-colored bill and legs, and white undertail coverts and some on the wings. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Citrina, the nominate ssp, breeds from northern India east along the Himalayas to eastern Bangladesh and into western and northern Myanmar. It winters further south in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Other ssp are even more beautiful, such as cyanota, which has a white throat and face sides, with two black stripes running downwards from below the eyes. 

The "white-throated" orange-headed thrush, ssp cyanota, illustration from Birds of the World. 

Ssp. melli has the black stripes but the throat and face sides are in-between white and orange. 

Ssp. melli from Birds of the World. 

It is a shy secretive birds usually occurring alone or in pairs. It has a swift, silent flight, but when disturbed will often sit motionless until the threat has passed. Just stunning. I would love to see more of them. 

Knob-Billed Duck

The knob-billed duck is another bird I wanted to see when we went to India this last November, and did see, just not as good a sighting as I'd hoped for. It was a long way off and I couldn't really make it out with my naked eye. It was not until getting home and cropping photos that I could really see what I saw. I was also disappointed that I didn't get a male with a huge knob on its bill. I think one of the birds I saw was a male, but it was always obscured by a female and the knob is very small, which is what happens outside of the breeding season. It was in Keoladeo NP in India and pointed out to me by our guide, Ashok. 

I believe the duck to the back right is a male. 

It is one of the largest species of duck. It has a white head freckled with dark spots, a white neck and underparts. The upperparts are glossy blue-black, with bluish and greenish iridescence, especially prominent on the secondaries (lower arm feathers). The male is larger than the female and has a large black knob on the bill. 

Illustration of female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Chiffchaff

The common chiffchaff is a leaf warbler. It is migratory, wintering in southern and western Europe, southern Asia and north Africa. I saw it in Keoladeo NP, India in November 2025. I saw ssp. tristis, known as the Siberian chiffchaff, which breeds in Siberia and winters in the lower Himalayas, but is also regularly recorded in western Europe in the winter. It is dull, gray or brownish above and whitish below, with little yellow in the plumage, and the buff-white supercilium is often longer than the western subspecies. Birds of the World says it is "so nondescript that wing bars are considered sporty, a splash of yellow is eccentric, and a dash of orange would be unthinkable." 

Illustration of ssp. tristis from Birds of the World. 

I was walking back to our motorized rickshaw when I saw this tiny bird high up in a tree and started taking photos. Our guide, Ashok, told me the name and I had to have him spell it out for me, going over it several times. I'd never heard of it and it seemed like a really weird name for a bird. It is named for its chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff song. 

Range from Birds of the World.

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.