Common Birds of IIT Kanpur
... and most of North India
Common Birds of IIT Kanpur
Brahmini Myna
This Brahmini Myna had a long swim in a puddle in my garden,
until it was driven out by some babblers. It then sat on
a branch looking like a witch, thumbing his nose at the babblers (I am not
making this up, check out this
Photo story!)
This is a narrative of birds commonly encountered
at IIT Kanpur. The campus may be particularly attractive for birds
since it is a virtual oasis of
green amid the surrounding agricultural land;
this checklist lists
259 bird species that have been sighted around here.
I am no bird expert. Until some years ago, I didn't
know a cattle egret from a little green bee-eater. The birds shown here
are not rare or special - they are just everyday birds, birds that may drop
in at your lawn. Most were photographed while walking around my house, but
many are from other areas such as the orchard behind the airstrip and the
reservoir near it, or the barA nahar (Ganga Canal).
See more
on bird-sighting spots at IITK below.
While most of the images are nearabout the IIT campus, these birds are
actually common across most of Northern India (Gangetic plains), and some are
common much beyond. As one goes West, things get drier, and birds like
the drongo or the pied myna
become rarer.
If you come across an exceptionally artistic picture, it is probably the work
of Sainath Vellal, who
did his Master's here 2006-2008. Some other pictures have also been
contributed (see below), and do let me know if you would like to contribute
any pictures here. (amit [AT] iitk.ac.in).
Those from IITK may visit the page
[Birds of IIT Kanpur]
created by Prof. TV Prabhakar, which lists more than two
hundred species that have been seen
at IITK, incorporating the descriptions from
the Book of Indian birds as well as non-IITK photographs. Unfortunately this
page is not available outside IITK, but I have updated and made an
HTML version of the checklist that was
originally created in the 70s by Raman Athreya and others, as well as this
PDF version
which includes the local (Hindi) names. Note that abour 50 of the bird
species are from Bithoor on the Ganga and are typically not encountered on
campus.
A more recent attempt at creating a list, by Sainath and Suhail, may be
found here.
See more links below.
Common Babbler
These light brown energetic birds have beady eyes that look
perpetually angry. You see them everyday foraging noisily at the bottom of
the hedge, flying off into the low branches, and occasionally harrassing
squirrels with repeated bombdives, with the squirrel scurrying into cover.
Yet I didn't know its name for nearly a decade at IITK. Hindi legend
has it that the
babbler flocks are mostly females - which is why they are known as
sAt bahin (seven sisters). But perhaps that has more
to do with how they are forever squabbling and
fighting - wrestling pairs from a group will pin each other to
the ground in a flurry of claw and feathers. You can hear them uttering a
single intermittent "squaw" through the day, but often they make other
calls as well.
In particular, when a cat or a snake is near, they go into a
frenzy hurling invective at the intruder (Click on the adjacent image
for the photo-story of What the Babblers think of the Cat... )
Birds, like everything around us, hold more interest as they are more
uncommon. This is as it should be, since non-surprising phenomena
contain less information. But
I realized it firsthand when I found myself reluctant
to turn the camera onto babblers, despite their fascinating social behaviour.
In the middle image,
Notice how much birds can inflate when
they breathe! (Click on images to enlarge)
Barbets are small-ish birds, about Bulbul size, with a large head and a broad
beak, often seen on trees that are fruiting. The
crimson-breasted barbet,
also called "Coppersmith Barbet",
with a black eyestripe and crimson and green colouration, is
very common, the large green barbet with its big yellow eye is also
commonly seen in urban parks. Since the birds are small though, it helps if
one is looking through a binocular.
These birds (size:Myna-) visited my garden in small groups of 2 or 3 about
twice
a week or so through the pre-winter flowering season. The brilliantly
coloured crimson-breasted variety is quite
common across India, even in urban areas.
Finally, an artistic contribution from Sainath, practically from
his hostel window in Hall 7:
Large Green Barbet
Nowadays called the Brown-headed barbet. I find it more commonly in Western
India.
Little Green Bee Eater
You can see bee-eaters in most open spaces, sitting on wires, and tall reeds of
grasses, their tail having the distinctive thin wire-like bit coming out in
the middle. They are amazingly acrobatic, catching insects on the wing.
They'll often
be sitting on the wires; near the airstrip is a good bet.
The first two images are from Sainath (you can tell from the
quality).
And now, one more amazing capture by Sainath. The bee-eater on the right
looks on jealously while the other gobbles his catch :
Bulbul
Two species are common - the Red-vented Bulbul
with a black crest and a brown chest with a netted texture, and the Red-whiskered
Bulbul, which has two red patches on its cheeks. They will often sit on
exposed branches and sing - mostly their song has four notes, but they also have
a rich set of variations.
Here is a red-vented bulbul looking royal on a palm tree outside Park Royal
hotel in the urban congestion of Nehru Place, Delhi. Notice the black
crest and the naughty gleam in his eye:
Here are some more images.
The "vent" is that red tuft at the bottom of the tail:

Red-whiskered Bulbul
The Red-whiskered Bulbul is a regular visitors to low branches of trees -
also see it sitting on my garden gate in the banner image for this page. For
something barely larger than a sparrow, it sure puts up a lot of airs. It
has a beautiful repertory of song, with the most common refrain being a
five-note melody.
Brown Rock Chat
The Brown Rock Chat (also called the Indian Chat) is a fairly common
bird on campus, frequently seen trilling away from the roof corners of the
lecture hall complex or other buildings.
This one was photographed from a first floor balcony in Delhi in March 2006.
I have seen the rock chat singing away
in solitary splendour around
April-May, which may be their mating season. They can often be seen
on prominent roof corners of buildings, and are well-known for their
ability to mimic the songs of several species.
The pied bushchat can be found all over campus. The male is bright black
and white, the female a more subdued buff-brown.

Pied bushchat, male
Pied bushchat, male (1,2: Prateek Gupta). Sitting on lamppost, on the grass
and near Hall 8.
Crow Pheasant (Greater Coucal)
The crow pheasant or the Greater Coucal is a large brown and black
crow-like bird - often seen walking around on open ground.
From close
up, it looks rather scary, with those huge talons (see the third image, 0277)
and the eyes and furry black head like something leftover from a horror
movie.
These images are of the same individual, who transited through my
garden almost every day for a few weeks in April 07.
The commoner the bird, the less one feels like "wasting" energy on them...
(such are the laws of entropy). Perhaps the act of flight gives this
image a little distinction.
Cuckoo (Asian Koel)
One can hear them calling mellifluously in April May,
but finding them is harder.
Murphy's Law: They never call when you are looking at them.
Proof: You are so focused on looking through the lens that you can't hear.
Male Cuckoo
It is only the male cuckoo who sings, the female is largely silent (lucky
him!)
One April morning the cuckoo to the left was sitting on a branch, serenading
away to the
world, when another male cuckoo quietly landed on the same branch to its right.
There was a ritual sparring, after which the intruder flew off again. In
photo 2857 the original inhabitant (to the left) is staring down the other.

Female Cuckoo
The cuckoo gene apparently carries a marker that specializes the female
to lay eggs that match the host species that it parasitizes. So daughter
cuckoos will also parasitize the same hosts.
These glossy black birds with a distinctive forked tail are fairly common in
IIT; they are less common in Delhi and are seen really frequently
as you go eastward. The third image is from Sainath, and catches a drongo
against a background of grass fires - it is
waiting for insects to fly out.
Wet Drongos
These birds (and a couple of pied myna) would take off from their perch,
dive and splash into the jheel
and return back right away. Their flights were not deliberate as if they were
fishing or looking for food - it seemed to me that they were just having fun.
It was October
near Calcutta (off Kalyani Road) - not too hot either, but sunny.
Cattle Egret
We have all seen these large snow-white birds hopping around in an ungainly
manner near
buffaloes or even sitting on them. Mostly they are looking for insects
turned over by the buffalo feet. The last two pictures from Sainath. The
rightmost one shows it in breeding plumage.
I saw these Egrets flying along the
Lower Ganga canal running behind IIT, during a bicycle ride on
the morning of March 25, 2007. They are amazingly graceful in flight. Here
they are flying along with the Red-wattled Lapwing,
which is also commonly seen at the
reservoir near the mango grove (when it has water) and even on our lawns!
Little Egret
The little egret has a darker beak than the cattle egret, and is rarely seen
away from water bodies. When I started this page, I had labelled these as
cattle egret, thanks to Ramit Singal for correcting it!
Hoopoe
The hoopoe is commonly seen even in urban areas across India.
In IIT, it visits our
lawns, and can also be seen near
the Visitor's hostel. The fluffed up crest and the flip-flop flight makes
it rather remarkable, and one remembers it.
This one was photographed in Giridih, Jharkhand.
A pair of Hornbills have been regular visitors to the top branches of my
garden since last
November. They come from the West, around nine in the morning, sit amicably for
about half an hour, and wing on eastwards.
And now a fascinating image from Sainath. The hornbill uses mud and feces to
seal its nest; the female stays inside for the entire incubation and is fed
through a hole by the male.
Common Kingfisher
This image is from Bithoor, by Sainath.
© Sainath
White-breasted Kingfisher
This is the bird that got me interested in bird photography - October
2005, Delhi. Image 3 (with the blue tail visible) is from the banks of the
Ganga in Bithur. It is also called the White-Throated Kingfisher.
Large brownish kite, matched most features of Pariah Kite, which is the
most common raptor in urban areas. Sometimes the feathers may separate in
flight seeming like a tear (they are attached to the bone at the front of the
wing).
The rest of the images are from a kite nesting family in Calcutta.
I have a small doubt about their ID though, because
the pariah kite is
supposed to have a forking
tail; this one shows it only in some views. Mostly though, the descriptions
match.
You often see them in flight:
Kites Nesting
I was fortunate to be able to see a pair of kites nesting in
a tree in Calcutta - I got
to check it out in October and then again in February, at which time (at
least) two juveniles were in the nest, and were being fed by what appeared to
be the adult female.
Building the nest:
Next time around, there were two juveniles in the nest. When I shot this
photograph I thought there was only one bird, standing
prominently a little above the nest, but if you look closely you
can see the other
one - see if you can
find him? It is amazing how much their striped skin is meant to look like
the texture on the branch. He's
hidden in the foliage on the branch to the top right of the image,
looking down at the other nestling (you can
see the larger picture by clicking on the thumbnail).
Now see how the Juvenile is asking for food, and being given.
Couldn't make out what the prey was, though.
A large brown bird (somewhat larger than a pigeon) with a black head and
neck, brown and white colour, with thin yellow legs.
Often seen near water, along with other waterbirds.
However, a pair has taken up
residence on the roof of Prof. Gajbhiye's house (618), and terrorizes lane
32 with their loud call, day and night: "Did-you, Did-you, Did-you do it?",
especially if they see a dog or a cat.
The first image
[2041],
finds it sitting on the roof of
H. 618, which it colonized for much of 2007-08. Though there are don't seem
to be any water
bodies nearby, Prof. Gajbhiye is kind to them and often keeps his lawn wet,
and then these birds will sink down to the belly on the wet grass.
They often actively dig out earthworms from the ground.
In flight, The
V-shaped white stripe
(see image under Little Egret) is very distinctive.

a flock of red-wattled lapwings at a corner of the oxidation tank near H8.
Dec 2009
Brahminy Myna
Although this bird is quite common, and sports such brilliant colours,
it is relatively less known, being often mistaken for the common myna.
This species has been re-named "Brahminy Starling" at an international congress
with no representation from India. In fact,
the entire Myna range was renamed "Starling", throwing out a fact lamented
by Indian ornithologist J.C. Daniel in
Mynas love exploring holes, and this one in the gulmohar tree is a
favourite. The Brahminy enters head first, disappearing completely,
but manages to turn around inside the hole and re-emerge head first.
Occasionally, it might have an insect too...
And don't forget to read the story of the Brahminy
Swimming Pool.
These are more common in areas east of Kanpur - in Varanasi or
Calcutta, they are almost as common as house sparrows. In IIT, their are a
few nesting pairs on the large pipal tree near the Dhobi ghat, just
beyond the Yadav Taxi stand. This species is also called Asian Pied
Starling.
Bank Myna
This is very similar to the common myna, except it is gray and the black
crown is a sharper change in colour and not graded. This picture is from
Bithur.
Common Myna
Rose-ringed Parakeet
The totA or the parrot is often seen flying by noisily and fast.
A great signal that my guava is ripe is when I discover them on the tree.
They can then be found on the top branches in noisy groups, positioning
themselves precariously to get at the fruit.
There are three species that you can see in IIT:
- Rose-ringed parakeet (most common)
- Blossom-headed parakeet (yellow beak, tail has yellowish-white tip,
reddish-orange crown)
- Plum-headed parakeet (yellow beak like blossom blossom-headed; white tip
to tail, and cheeks are more reddish, see below)
- Alexandrine parakeet (larger, bigger red bill, maroon patch on shoulder)
Guava tree: In the guava season, it is hard to find a time when there
aren't some parakeets discreetly munching away on the tree. If you look at
this rose-ringed parakeet male, you will even find guava dribbling from his
beak! And it is even glaring at me, as if it's saying, "Impostor, get away
from my tree!"
Totas are known to be very smart animals. Like many other birds, use their
limbs very creatively. Here
you can see a tota holding a bottlebrush flower with one hand (oops,
claw).
Finally, the story of a young
parakeet, who was a bit too greedy. On top of that, he
wasn't too smart, and he had a slight problem. Click on
this image or link to read the story of The
Foolish Tota on the Guava Tree.
Plum-headed Parakeet
The plum-headed parakeet has a yellow beak, and a thin blue tail
with a white tip. It is a bit smaller, is more yellowish-green, and has
quite a distinctive shape. The
head is distinctly reddish, as opposed to the full green on the
rose-rigned.
Earlier, the plum-headed parakeet used to be also called the blossom-headed
parakeet. But Grimmett/Inskipp consider these as different species; the
blossom-headed is similar but has a yellowish tip to its tail.
Doves and Pigeons
From a photographer's point of view,
the great thing about the dove, compared to almost any other bird, is that
once it comes and sits down on a branch, it is there for a reasonable
period!
This dove has a half ring around the back of the neck. Here it is trying to
engage a brahminy myna in conversation at the top of a babool tree. The
second image, due to Sainath, has them involved in a morning argument.
This dove, also known as the Little Brown Dove, has what Salim Ali calls "a
miniature chessboard" in brown or black on both sides of the neck (see middle
image below).
Spotted Dove
This has a stippled pattern on the wings, and also on the back of the neck
(rather than on the
sides for the Laughing dove). It is yet another bird that is more common in eastern India.
1. (photo: Prateek Gupta) near the Bara Sirohi gate 2. from Kolkata.
Blue Rock Pigeon
This is the most common pigeon in all cities. Have you noticed how it
prefers to be at the very edge, on the precipice, rather than in safer spots?
That's because it's natural habitat used to
be cliffs and coastal crags. Looking at this picture, you will realize that
pigeons believe God created humans so pigeons could have more cliffs
to jump off from!
Peacock
The peacock strutting about with its impossibly long tail poses a mystery - why
would evolution tolerate a development which is clearly a hindrance?

1. The male's long dysfunctional tail just before the rains (April).
2. It has become barely a stub in the non-breeding season (October).
3. (photo:Sainath): The peacock's spectacular display
highlights the length of its tail. Individuals with longer tails attract more
mates.
The answer lies in sexual selection, as noted by Darwin:
We may conclude that...those males which are best able by their various charms
to please or excite the female, are under ordinary circumstances accepted. If
this be admitted, there is not much difficulty in understanding how male
birds have gradually acquired their ornamental characters...
The wasteful tail is an honest
indicator of the individual's "fitness", so that the female who chooses to
mate with it is assured of a high-quality gene.
Some people think that by analogy, human brains may be a peacock's tail, they
are quite unnecessary and expensive, and may only serve for being attractive to the
opposite sex. See this article
I wrote some years ago in my column Storytelling Science in the
Hindustan Times.

An exceptional image of a peacock in flight from Sainath.
Magpie Robin
These good looking birds are also common in Bihar and Bengal - it is the
national bird of Bangladesh (doyel). You can hear its lively cheep sound,
which it
utters with its beaks open and body tensed up... It is especially visible in
the springtime, when (perhaps the male?) positions itself prominently, and sings away
for hours.
Saw this on my lawn a couple of times in Oct 2006, and many time since then.
[more robin images]
Common House Sparrow
Amazingly, no sparrow ever visits my garden. I have seen them in Kanpur city though,
e.g. on the tracks at the railway station.
Sparrows (like most birds) are
masters at hopping (middle image).
Purple Sunbird
These had me foxed for a long time. Though these birds look like several
different species, it turns out that
the male Purple Sunbird changes its plumage dramatically over the
year.
Purple Sunbird - Female

This tiny bird could be seen only because of its motion.
This purple sunbird was jumping around on a tree just outside a window. This
shot was taken with a 200mm lens from about two meters off.
Sunbirds and hummingbirds both have curved beaks and a hovering style
of feeding, but they aren't related - these features are just an example
of convergent evolution.
/P>
Purple Sunbird - male, non-mating (eclipse) plumage

The fourth image (0584, from Kolkata, Dec 09) is either in-between moults, or
it may be a different species.
Purple Sunbird - male, mating plumage
These are a glittering blue-black.
Purple Rumped Sunbird
This is a bird from the South and East of India.
This image ID I have some doubts about. It was seen in Calcutta.
You are unlikely to see one in Kanpur.
More about [How I discovered sunbirds].
Common Tailorbird
Sparrow size, brownish colour, tiny tail, often lifted up. The tailorbird
makes its nest by stitching two or three leaves together, somewhat off the
ground, often at eye-level or therearbouts.
The tailorbird is a rather common bird, but I find it a bit
difficult to distinguish from many of the warbler-like species on campus.
Though this is quite a large bird and a common visitor to my garden, it is
very jittery and not easy to photograph. It's a rather noisy bird - notice
it calling in flight.
I saw this only one day, that also for a few minutes. Thanks to
B. Ravindran for ID'ing it. It is now called the Black-rumped Flameback.
The beautiful image next is from Sainath.
White-Eye
This tiny restless bird is a frequent visitor, sipping on the flowers.
Even if you can't make out the white ring around the eye, you cannot mistake
the yellow-orange colour, and the tiny size, as it jumps from branch to
branch, sometimes in small groups. Getting a white-eye to sit long enough
for you to photograph it is a rarity.
These images are from the bottlebrush tree in October, and from a Delhi
park in April.
Unidentified birds
These are just the most common birds that one sees, the ones (I think) I
have been able to figure out.
There are many more birds on campus, that one sees less frequently. In the
page
Less Common Birds, I list some of these:
- Night Heron: A black-capped
heron. You'll often see them roosting in large flocks on one of the trees
near the reservoir.
- Pond Heron: Also seen at the
reservoir, and also on the flats near the Ganga canal boundary.
- Pied Kingfisher: Seen near
Bithoor. Often hovering above the water.
- Red-Breasted Flycatcher: I saw
this a couple of times on my garden.
- Grey-headed Myna: Also came to my
garden, but not very common, it seems.
- Scaly-Breasted Munia: These tiny birds
sometimes come to munch on the "Kash" flower seeds.
- Great Horned Owl, or Eurasian/Rock Eagle
Owl: This spectacular bird used to be seen in the 5th floor of the
Faculty building, but is better spotted near the reservoir.
- Spotted Owlet: You see these at dusk
and into the night,
plunging down silently from trees.
- White-browed Wagtail): These sprightly
black-and-white birds are
common near waterbodies, in campus and in Bithoor.
There are a whole lot of other birds that one sees on campus, but I just don't know their
names. Please check up on them at
this page of Unidentified Birds.
Sainath S. Vellal, a final year M.Tech student in CSE, is an avid
naturalist and has some exceptionally fine photographs on his blog at
sainath.livejournal.com,
including the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Zitting Cisticola, Pied Kingisher,
and other not very commonly seen species.
Several other photographs are
from Prateek Gupta who
graduated in 2007.
Other Information
Links
- The
Birds in IIT Kanpur website, maintained by Prof. T.V. Prabhakar, linked
from
the IITK home page. This gives images and descriptions of most of the birds
in the checklist, and also snatches of song for many of them...
There are of course many other naturalists / photographers in IITK - if you
know of some more web pages,
please let me know. There are also lots of great websites of birders across
India - nagpurbirds.org (many excellent
images by category),
kolkatabirds.com (images of all
978 Indian bird species, but site is a bit flaky of late), etc.
Bird Watching Spots
Favourites vary, but here is a tentative list, in increasing order of effort:
- Your own hostel/house garden, lawns, trees, especially in the mornings
- Parks and gardens within IITK
- The road near the airstrip and little offshoots north and south
- The reservoir
near the mango orchard beyond the airstrip.
To go here, you have to follow the kuccha path starting at the water pump
a little beyond lane 37, and walk north between the GT road
boundary and the airstrip fence for about a kilometer till the ALIMCO
boundary. Prime nilgai territory.
- The chhota nahar running near the dhobi ghat. Turn towards Nankari at
the UBI chowraha (old security crossing), and where the road L-turns
right to go to Nankari, make a left through kuccha roads past the bedsheets
drying on clotheslines.
- The bara nahar or Ganga canal. To go here by bicycle, follow the
other end of the chhota nahar where it goes out opp the HC behind the SBRAs.
You'll come to a manned security gate, turn right, and right again on the
main road,
through Bara Sirohi village, until you come to the bridge over the Upper
Ganges canal. Follow the road right before the bridge (this runs behind
H5/H7/H9 etc towards the village of Lodhar) or the road left after the bridge
(past the ruins of the British East India Co. toll house, heading towards
Panki). This
latter road is not safe after dusk.
- Bithur on the ganga. The sand bank on the other side (this is an island
at some times)
where they grow kakris and bitter gourd behind reed fences.
The ghats a little upstream from Bithur, the beautiful sandbank cliffs
downstream, the hillock called Dhruv ka Tila, etc.
- Bird Sanctuaries nearby include Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary on the Lucknow
road, Lakh Bahosi near Farrukhabad is a relatively under-publicized 80
sq. km wetland reserve, Vijai Sagar in Mahoba district, and Sandi
Wild Life Sanctuary in Hardoi district. The Chambal sanctuary near Etawah, and
for that matter, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, are also not too far off.
Here is what the reservoir looked like in April 2007.
In this
photograph, there are
about twenty night herons sitting on the tree to the very left (enlarge to
see better). There are lots of pond herons and other waterbirds in the grassy
bank at the other end.

In the last two years, the pump
that fills this tank with waste water has been malfunctioning (yes, that
long!), so
the reservoir has gone completely dry. The pond
has become dense muddy jungle, and birdlife has also gone down.
As of January 2010, however, I was told that the pump has been repaired, but
it will be a many months before the pond comes back...
Meanwhile,
the oxidation
tank near hall 8 is worth a visit. The perimeter road running beyond
it is also worth a visit.
The travails of Photography
Birds are tricky to photograph. They are never still, and they will move, as
if with great deliberation, between locations with great lighting disparity,
e.g. from a background of foliage to where they are silhouetted against the
bright sky.
Also, the work begins only after you have taken the actual photo. Thank
heavens for the digital era, but now you have the problems of plenty. You
have to collate the images, sort them by quality, bird name, venue, time,
etc. You have to crop, cut, and resize them. And if you are planning to make
webpages, you have to create thumbnails ... the work is endless. And it can
be very very consuming. Very detrimental for a normal civilized existence.
Nonetheless, there is great satisfaction in it of course, which
is why the breed of bird photographers is constantly increasing.
Note on Camera: Most of the pictures on this website were taken on the Canon
EOS 350D DSLR with a Canon 55-200 f4.5-5.6 lens. However, I would not
recommend a zoom lens for such photographs, a fixed telephoto, 300mm or
higher, with image stabilization, may be better (Sainath uses a 400mm lens).
But these lenses are rather unwieldy, and the cost, around Rs. 1 lakh, can be
prohibitive. I have recently got a superzoom compact camera - the Canon
SX20IS; with the lens going to 560mm, this is quite a competent alternative,
in a much more compact format.
Amitabha Mukerjee Dec 23, 2009