India is rich when it comes to biodiversity, and it boasts an impressive range and collection of avifauna. The beauty and uniqueness of the same has made a deep impact on Indian culture, both ancient and modern. Birds have been used as important motifs in paintings, and their behaviour has been used as metaphors in literary texts, poems and plays. These motifs have also carried over to the Indian postal service, in the many postage stamps issued with birds on them...

If there’s a bird family that perfectly represents the quiet thrill of birdwatching in India, it is the Parrotbills. Hi, I am Adhirup Ghosh, a birdwatcher based in Santiniketan, West Bengal, with over two decades of dedicated birdwatching experience across India. Secretive, habitat-specific and often overlooked, the Parrotbills with their stubby, parrot-like bills and soft, wispy calls inhabit the dense undergrowth of India’s Brahmaputra wetlands, bamboo thickets of the lower Himalayan foothills and high-altitude scrubs. Seeing all ten parrotbill species in India became, over time, a quiet quest—one that took me across the length and breadth of this vast, layered country...

The place where I stay, Flora Fountain is a residential complex in a congested area in Kolkata. However, there are two natural ponds within it and trees like the Indian Cork Tree, the towering Kadam trees, fruit trees like Guava, Jamun and Papaya, Palm trees and even a Sundari tree at the edge of the pond. On 24th September this year, I was birding in my complex and was watching a checkered keelback snake eat a fish when suddenly I heard a lively bird call and instantly recognized it as that of the Wagtail. I quickly trained binoculars to the spot and saw a wagtail with a grey head, white eyebrows, and a bright yellow on the underside, feeding on the insects near the pond...

Savour this – the rare Lanceolated Warblers were seen after years in one of the reed beds in Baruipur (Patch 16). The same patch is home to the indomitable King Quails, which were first sighted in another patch in Baruipur, three summers ago for the first time, which was again a record in itself, the last record being in the 1960s. The amazement doesn’t end here. Move deeper and you might stumble into a pair of shy Chestnut-eared Buntings in a vacationing mode (patch 16). And if you tread cautiously you might even get the chance for an impromptu tete-a-tete with the ghost of the marshes – the male Pied Harrier. If you are enamoured by raptors, then look up—you might even find a pair of mighty Indian Spotted Eagles floating with the clouds just above you. Jostling for air-space might be a solitary pigeon-faced Oriental Honey Buzzard, a couple of Crested Serpent Eagles with their beautifully printed underwings, and even the indomitable Changeable Hawk Eagles. During winter, a few more marsh harriers might add to your company. Last winter, for instance, a couple of Peregrine Falcons had enthralled the birdwatchers with their presence, and stories of their speed were a trending topic for a good fortnight or so. Last but not least, you also have a resident Common Kestrel, a trio of Black-winged Kites, and a few Black Kites and Black-eared Kites to add to your spirits. Undoubtedly, a bonanza for raptor lovers. In fact, the uncluttered horizon might be just apt for stargazers at night and raptor lovers during the day...

This is one of those surgery tutorials (of images) you should try at your own risk. Our beloved BWS or us, will not be responsible for the result. After reading the violent title and the stern legal disclaimer, if you are still interested in getting on with it, be our guest!

As you are all well aware, BWS has taken the initiative to create a not-so-dry database of birds and the obvious juice to that database is your beautiful and colourful photographs. Sadly, we don’t have all the bandwidth and all the cloud space in the world, hence it is necessary to perform some surgery on your photos and then deliver them to us. This will ensure that our resources are optimised. So, you need to snip your photos and size them up which in photographers’ language are cropping and resizing images.

So here is a small “guide” to introduce you to the world of cropping and resizing. After reading this, it would be a breeze to crop and resize the image to the desired ratio of 4:3 (1024×768).

Let’s start by understanding the basics of cropping and resizing images. These two techniques serve different purposes and are essential for effective image editing:...

“দিকে দিকে পাখি পাতা, জাল নয়” জয় গোস্বামীর এই কবিতার লাইনটি সবসময় মনে পড়ে, যখন ভারতবর্ষে রেকর্ড হওয়া পাখির সংখ্যার দিকে তাকাই। ১২৫০টির মতন রেকর্ড সারা ভারতে এবং পশ্চিমবঙ্গেই একা ৮৪৯ টি। এই বিপুল পরিমান পাখির বৈচিত্র্য সম্ভব হয়েছে, কারণ ভৌগোলিক বৈচিত্র্য।...