Birds Around Me

The Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) is one of Britain's smallest birds,  as the name suggest  has longer tail than it's body, weighing 7-9 gms. Long-tailed Tits are one of the most beautiful birds around and are fun to watch specially when other birds are around. They take over the entire show - continously on the move, following their leader.  Small size, long tail, and black, white and pinkish colour make them easy to identify amongs other tits. Appears like a tiny ball of fluff with very long, narrow tail. Common resident of the U.K., these are gregarious and very noisy, move around in flocks of 15-20 through the vegetation. Its small size makes it vulnerable to cold winters and members of a flock roost huddled together to conserve heat.  Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) builds a beautiful ball-shaped nest, camouflaged with 2-3 thousand lichen and lined with over a thousand feathers.  Birds Around Me - Unfinished List ( अपूर्ण    सूची )  Ashutosh Jhureley  @BirdsA

In 2014, it was the first time I saw and photographed Common Kingfisher  छोटा किलकिला, राम चिरैया, शरीफन, निता मछराला  (Alcedo atthis)   in Jabalpur, India. It was an experience on its own. I was sitting with my dad by the side of a small lake literally in front of our home talking about rubbish being dumped in the water bodies all over Jabalpur. Once renowned for its water bodies, the only name of those remain postal addresses. I had my camera with me because my dad wanted me to click a photo of him with his friend. All of a sudden we saw a bird diving in, a colorful one. It was Common Kingfisher and it flew and perched literally 5 meters from me. And it wasn't just  the Common Kingfisher that we saw that day, but also a couple more  White-throated Kingfisher ( किलकिला ,  श्वेतकण्ठ   कौड़िल्ला ) / Halcyon Smyrnensis  and  Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) . Since then I have photographed these birds in RSPB Rye Meads, Stocker's Lake, and Hemel Hempstead using my amateur gear. Cra