Birds from the lens of a cricketer – 3

Its been some time that birds flapped their wings in my blog so I decided to welcome them in today. Furthering into the series, I introduce two birds.

The four birds (Grey heron, Red Munia, Pied Kingfisher & Spotted thick knee) are happily residing in the post page here – Birds from the lens of a cricketer. & Birds from the lens of a cricketer-2

I am covering two birds here today – Brahminy kite and White belled sea eagle. As usual, the photos are clicked by my co-brother Shashank and I have collated the information of these birds from Wikipedia and other relevant articles from bird enthusiasts and my sincere thanks to their articles.

1. White bellied sea eagle – This bird which has its residence in India and Sri Lanka and is also found in Southeast Asia & Australia. It has a white head, under-wing coverts where the upper parts are grey. The large, hooked bill is a leaden grey with a darker tip and they have dark brown eyes.

They largely habitat on coast and waterways as they hunt mainly near water. It measures up to 90 cm long and weigh around 4.5 kg.

These birds are often found resting high up a tree and when hungry they soar over waterways and adjacent land. It is carnivore bird and it consumes a wide variety of fish by flying low over the water and grasping its prey using only one of its foot to seize prey. Their prey mainly includes fish, turtles, sea snakes and mammals. It is considered to be a skilled hunter and it can eats it prey while flying. They skin their victim as they consume.

The call is a loud goose like honking sounding “ank ank ank” or a faster “ka ka ka” which one can hear up to a distance of 1 km. These birds live around 30 years on this earth.

2. Brahminy kite – This would be familiar bird to many of us. This bird represents to be the vehicle of Lord Vishnu under the form and name ‘Garuda’.

It is a medium sized bird of prey with a white head and the rest of its body is chestnut brown with dark eyes and lemon yellow hooked bill. It feeds on fish (including dead), crab, rabbit, snakes and other small mammals which they catch swooping low over water or on the ground surface. They also sometimes fight with other birds putting an end to their hard work by snatching away their prey in flight.

The bird prefers wet areas and is found largely near inland waterways and lakes and wetlands like rice fields and marshes as they prefer to be near water. The call of this bird is a scream ‘kweeaa’ while soaring. It is regarded as a quiet bird lost in its own world.

Both these birds seem to have similar characteristics and can largely be related looking at their common features. I thank these two birds for visiting my blog.

I appreciate Shashank’s effort for the nice photos of these birds.

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