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Crested Serpent Eagle

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The Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilornis cheela is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae.The Crested Serpent Eagle can be found in a large geographical region from South Asia, including India and Sri Lanka, to Southeast Asia, extending to southern China and Indonesia. This forest bird nests in treetops near fresh water. Its nests are constructed with sticks and contain not more than a single egg at a time.The Crested Serpent Eagle is a medium large raptor
at about 55-75cm in length. Adults have dark brown upperparts and head,
and have a hooded appearance at rest. The underparts and underwing
coverts are pale brown. In soaring flight, the broad wings are held in
a shallow V. The tail and underside of the flight feathers
are black with broad white bars. When perched, they appear large headed
and owl-like due to the shape of the face and positioning of the eyes.The call is a distinctive Kluee-wip-wip with the first They call a lot in the late mornings from perches or as they rise on the thermals in the mornings.

Sexes are visually similar, but young birds have a whitish head, underparts and underwing, the latter showing darker barring.

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Blue-eared Kingfisher

The Blue-eared Kingfisher, Alcedo meninting, is found in South and South-east Asia. This is a small kingfisher almost identical to the Common Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis. The Blue-eared Kingfisher is distinguished from the Common Kingfisher by blue ear coverts, darker and more intense cobalt-blue upperparts with richer rufous under parts.The juvenile Blue-eared Kingfisher has similar rufous ear-coverts like the Common Kingfisher; but it usually shows some mottling on the throat and upper breast which disappears when the bird reaches adulthood.The average length of this kingfisher is 16cm. It is found near pools and streams in dense evergreen forest, situated under 1000m of altitude.

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