Grey-headed Myna

The gray-headed myna is commonly found throughout the Mumbai suburban region in the last quarter of the year and is understood to be a winter visitor to South India. It is also known as the Chestnut-tailed Starling. It frequents lightly wooded regions close to human habitation, feeding on flowering and fruiting plants, moving about individually or in pairs.
One can recognize it from its size (it is slightly smaller than the common myna), a yellow beak,  grayish head and upper body, rusty-brown abdomen, and black wing quills. 

The birds are quite difficult to spot in foliage due to their overall dull appearance. See pictures 1 & 2.
 

A sub-species, the White-headed Myna, can also be occasionally spotted alongside the more common nominate species.  It has a whitish-gray head and neck parts, with slightly darker wings.
I was lucky to snap up these pictures of the white-headed myna, as it is quite uncommon in this region. See pictures 3 (with red-whiskered bulbul) & 4, 

Bee-eaters

Bee-eaters are very common and one can easily spot them on telephone and electricity cables in most parts of the country. They favor open grassland and lightly wooded regions, which have insects and bees in abundance.  They are extremely agile flyers and have a graceful and undulating flight, often gliding on their wings. Sitting on high branches or wires,  they fly out to snatch insects in mid-flight and return to their perches to consume them.

In the evenings, they can be observed in large flocks, with their noisy calls, a trilly treet, treeet…., before retiring for the night in groups comprising of eight-ten birds. Since they are noisy and in large flocks, most of us would be familiar with them.

There are 2 sub-species which are commonly observed in suburban region, the Small Green Bee-eater and the Blue-tailed Bee-eater. 
The small green bee-eater is a small bird about the size of the house sparrow, but slimmer, with grass-green body and wings, long slender beak and reddish-brown head and upper neck parts. Another distinct feature is a black band running across its throat. Its tail has an extended central pair of feathers, which gives it an appearance of being quite long in size.(See picture 2 & 3 top).

The blue-tailed bee-eater is larger in size and has a reddish-brown throat and blue rump and tail portions, which distinguishes it from the smaller green bee-eater. (See picture 1 & 3 bottom).

More photographs here: https://picasaweb.google.com/108221666944016063659/WonderfulWorldOfBirds

Migration

The onset of winter is good news for bird watchers. [In these parts of the country the winter is really mild - minimum temperatures hardly ever go below 15°C]. This is the time when birds migrate from the cold north to warmer regions (like India), in search of adequate supply of food.  Although changes in temperature do not affect the birds, they require a constant supply of food to keep themselves warm and food supply becomes scarce during the icy winters in the northern parts of the world.  

 

Large scale migration takes place in the animal and water kingdom also, when  mammals and fish seasonally migrate.  But  the annual event of migration is best known and easily witnessed in case of birds.

Migrations may be classified as annual or diurnal (daily). What is witnessed in birds is the annual (or seasonal) migration, when large populations of bird species enter newer areas in search of food supply and favorable conditions to reproduce. At the end of the season, the birds return to their original areas of inhabitation, where they are termed the permanent residents.  

 

For bird lovers and naturalists, this is the best period to spot various different species. Some of the common sightings are large gatherings of bee-eaters, common swifts and swallows on telephone or electricity cables.  Other birds include the drongo, shikra and several species of harriers.  Of course, all of us await the arrival of the flamingoes and other large birds.

White-throated Fantail

Slightly larger than the common sparrow, the fantail is quite easy to spot, but difficult to photograph due to its restless nature. It is often found in pairs, constantly moving in the foliage and branches in search of insects and flies. It can be identified from its brownish upper body, white eye-brows and throat, white-spotted breast and whitish abdomen. Other striking features are a fanned tail and slightly drooping wings.

Hope to get better pictures next time I spot the fantail.