Least Concern

Watercock

A huge, chicken-like crake. In breeding plumage, the male is mainly blackish in colour with brownish feather edgings to upperparts; red legs with orange bill with upstanding red shield. Otherwise resembles immature and smaller female which is variably barred brown, darker above with greenish legs and yellowish bill.

Rock Pigeon

A mid-sized, blue-grey pigeon with darker head and neck and black wing bars, but it interbreeds with domestic pigeons so several colour varieties possible. Basically blue-grey with green-purple sheen across neck. Wings darker and tail black sub-terminal band. Some races have white lower back. Always has two long black bars across wing coverts. Gregarious, mixing with other doves. Feeds in flocks on spilt grain and sprouting cereals. Also in remote rocky places with cliffs and ruins. Nests colonially in cavities and on ledges in buildings and cliffs.

Short-eared Owl

A medium-sized, heavily-streaked buff, terrestrial owl with long wings. Upperparts and breast streaked blackish on buff ground colour. Upper primaries
are yellowish with black tips and white trailing edge. Under-wing whitish with black tips and carpal crescents. A small head with short ear tufts and bold facial disc; black mask round small yellow irises. Cat-like face. Sexes alike. Diurnal hunter covering ground buoyantly. Rests in grass clumps or in shade of thorn
bush. If flushed often flies high when may be mobbed by raptors or corvids. Will perch on posts.

Brown Hawk Owl

A slim, medium-sized, very dark owl with long banded tail. Chocolate brown with some white on back and wings and heavily-streaked underparts. Andaman and Nicobar race all dark. Face mainly dark. No ear tufts. Irises yellow. Sexes alike. Hunts, singly or in pairs, insects, birds and other animals from favoured perch. Sweeping hawk-like flight with flaps and long glides. Usually crepuscular or nocturnal, roosting in thick canopy. Will also hunt on cloudy days. Nests in tree hole.

Brown Fish Owl

Huge, flat-headed, brown streaked owl with horizontally held ear tufts and yellow irises. Dark brown above with buff feather edges. Dark streaking on paler underparts. Yellow irises. Broad barred wings and very short tail. Scarcer Tawny Fish Owl is larger, richer brown with heavier streaking below and whitish forehead. Sexes alike. Mainly nocturnal, roosting in leafy trees. Hunts fish, crabs and frogs.

Dusky Eagle Owl

Sexes alike. Pale grey-brown plumage, profusely spotted, streaked and . marked with white, mostly below; dark shaftstripes; prominent ear-tufts and dull yellow eyes diagnostic. Mostly pairs, sometimes three to four scattered; has favoured roost-sites in large, leafy trees; may call and fly during daytime.

Barn Owl

Sexes alike. Dull golden-buff above, finely speckled black and white; white below, often with fine , dark spots; heart-shaped, white facial disc striking. Solitary or in pairs; nocturnal, but sometimes hunts during day; normally rests during day, mostly in a tree-cavity, dense creepers or some dark loft; perches upright; flies silently, mostly under 4m from ground; pounces on prey.

Eurasian Wryneck

A small, rather reptilian-looking woodpecker, the colour of tree bark. Basically grey and brown with dark eyestripes and dark stripe running from crown to rump. Underparts barred and throat warm buff. Tail long and barred, making it look rather shrikelike in flight. Bill short and pointed. Twists neck round and often raises crown feathers. Sexes alike.

Barred Buttonquail

Sexes alike. Female slightly larger. Distinctive white eye; dark brown crown; black speck on white sides of head; back speckled with white, black and brown. Pale buff on wing shoulders seen in flight diagnostic.

Common Pochard

A stocky, medium-sized, dome-headed diving duck. The male has a distinctive brick-red head and neck, grey body, black breast and stern and a fairly large
black bill with a broad grey band. The female is browner with paler cheeks and flanks. Both show black bordered grey wing-bars in fast, whirring flight.

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