{"id":1413,"date":"2014-07-01T19:41:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T11:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryap.wordpress.com\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2014-07-01T19:41:08","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T11:41:08","slug":"ibisbill-in-bhutan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/01\/ibisbill-in-bhutan\/","title":{"rendered":"Ibisbill in Bhutan"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had the good fortune to travel to Bhutan between April and May 2013. One of the first bird species I saw was the Ibisbill (Ibidorhyncha struthersii<\/em>) at Paro River, which is near the international airport.<\/p>\n

The Ibisbill is a peculiar looking bird. Its long, down-curved bill is red as is its eyes. The name is derived from it’s curved bill like the ibis. It is however a unique species related to the waders but sufficiently distinct to form its own taxonomic family.<\/p>\n

They are found on stony riverbanks of the high plateau of Central Asia and the Himalayas, from Kazakhstan to China and southwards to India. <\/p>\n

Below is my photographic account of the species.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nA drop of water hanging from the unique red curved bill after a dip on the river looking for food. The striking purple leg and feet is a breeding adult feature.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nAlthough a good swimmer, the bird prefer to use its curved bill to probe under rocks and gravel in slow flowing streams for the larvae of aquatic insects and small fish. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Throughout the rest of the trip, we heard a number of calls of the Ibisbills near river beds, but never investigated further. However, on the last day of birding, I had the good fortune of encountering a family of them at Paro River again. This time around the birds were a little further away but it was an interesting encounter, one that yielded nice pictures and memories.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nA successful hunt for a crustacean, possibly a prawn. It then proceeded to swallow it by lifting its head, tossing the prey in mid air and then swallowing it whole. Somewhat like what other long-billed waders like godwits do.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThere are two fledglings in this picture, but they were well camouflaged especially the one on the right.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nAlthough still very young, it was already trying to hunt for its own food.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThe two fledglings again. Notice that the feet of the young is brownish.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThe adult called for the young, and the first chick responded and followed.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThe parent sat down and continued calling, while the chick hurriedly went near.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThe chick doved underneath the mother for warmth and protection.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ibisbill\"<\/a>
\nThe second chick came over later after many calls from the parent. It too eventually went underneath the parent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had the good fortune to travel to Bhutan between April and May 2013. One of the first bird species I saw was the Ibisbill (Ibidorhyncha struthersii) at Paro River, which is near the international airport. The Ibisbill is a peculiar looking bird. Its long, down-curved bill is red as is its eyes. The name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[30,95,149],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-travel","category-wildlife","tag-bhutan","tag-ibisbill","tag-paro-river"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fryap.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}