A Rosy Starling in Dhangadhi

Thursday, 3rd May 2012

Power has become very unreliable this last week with us down to just a couple of hours a day. This is frustrating but expected at this time of year. Likewise, we're into the 7th day of a complete local shut-down/strike with everything pretty much shut down - ceratinly all transportation and banks. A few local shops open at unusual times to supply the essentials but it's most definitely been a slow week. So, to be brief, I'll just post some of the highlights of the week starting with this Rosy Starling seen from my balcony this morning. Listed as a vagrant, this is a very good record for Nepal. None of today's photos are great but the birds themselves certainly are.



Rosy Starling and Asian Pied Starling - Dhangadhi



Rosy Starling and Asian Pied Starling - Dhangadhi

Also very nice (and initially in the same tree) were 3 White-naped Woodpeckers. Again, I managed to get a couple of record shots.



White-naped Woodpeckers - Dhangadhi

And so on to my local woods once again. The highlight this week was a total of 5 Great Slaty Woodpeckers - 3 males, 1 female and the last bird not seen well enough. They were engaged in a bizarre display which involved the birds spreading their wings and then jumping side to side around the trunk of the tree - I saw this species fairly often when I was living in Thailand but never saw anything like this before.


Great Slaty Woodpecker (there are actually 3 males and 1 female here)



Great Slaty Woodpecker (female) - Dhangadhi



Great Slaty Woodpecker (male) - Dhangadhi

Two last ones before the power goes - female Crested Bunting feeding in stubble beside the house a couple of weeks ago and the 'resident' Blyth's Reed warbler next door.



Crested Bunting (female) - Dhangadhi

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Dhangadhi

Mark.