2014 | 137 | 17May14 | Valley School

Post by Arunsnap.

01. Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) - Male -  14 cm
ID by  Richard Grimmett : Male from Blue-throated by orange throat. Female has blue-grey cast to  upperparts (especially rump and tail), orange breast, and white belly and flanks.

02. Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) - Male - 14 cm
ID by  Richard Grimmett : Male has narrow maroon breast-band, maroon head sides and mantle, metallic green shoulder patch, and yellow lower breast and belly with distinctive greyish-white flanks. Does not have eclipse plumage.

03. White-spotted Fantail (Rhipidura (albicollis) albogularis) - Adult - 19 cm
ID by  Richard Grimmett : From White-browed by narrow white supercilium and white throat, lack of spotting on wing-coverts, white-spotted grey breast, buff belly, and less white in tail. Underparts quite different from White-throated and has longer white supercilium and much less white in tail. Juvenile similar to adult, with rufous spots on wing coverts. Intergrades with White-throated in NE peninsula, where it has a dark grey crown contrasting with olive-brown mantle and unspotted grey breast and flanks.

04. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) - Adult - 17 cm
ID by  Richard Grimmett : A small, brightly coloured barbet, with crimson forehead and patch on breast, yellow patches above and below eye contrasting with blackish hind crown and sides of head, yellow throat, dark streaking on belly and flanks, and bright red legs and feet. Juvenile lacks red on forehead and breast; has prominent pale yellow patches above and below eye (surrounded by dark olive sides of head and moustachial stripe), whitish throat, olive-green breast-band, and broad olive-green streaking on belly and flanks.

05. Oriental garden lizard  (Calotes versicolor) - Male Breeding- 10 cm
ID by  Wikipedia : Dorsal crest moderately elevated on the neck and anterior part of the trunk, extending on to the root of the tail in large individuals, and gradually disappearing on the middle of the trunk in younger ones. No fold in front of the shoulder, but the scales behind the lower jaw are much smaller than the others; gular sac not developed. sometimes uniform brownish or greyish-olive or yellowish. Generally broad brown bands across the back, interrupted by a yellowish lateral band. Black streaks radiate from the eye, and some of them are continued over the throat, running obliquely backwards, belly frequently with greyish longitudinal stripes, one along the median line being the most distinct; young and half-grown specimens have a dark, black-edged band across the inter-orbital region. The ground-colour is generally a light brownish olive, but the lizard can change it to bright red, to black, and to a mixture of both. This change is sometimes confined to the head, at other times diffused over the whole body and tail. Changeable colours are peculiar to the male during the breeding-season, which falls in the months of May and June. During the breeding season, the male's head and shoulders turns bright orange to crimson and his throat black. Males also turn red-headed after a successful battle with rivals.

06. Cicada

07. Grasshopper