Part 2 of the centennial post: the best photo for each of the Passerine families that I've managed to photograph so far in the first 99 posts. But first a big thank you to everybody who is following the blog. So far over the first 100 posts, I've had over 15,000 hits to the blog & I'm generally averaging about 150 hits a day at the moment. I don't know how that compares to other people's blogs, but it seems pretty good to me, given the blog has been going for just over 6 months. It's quite surprising how many countries have people who have been looked the it & I've had hits from all the continents (I've excluded Antarctica as Google doesn't publish stats for there).
Coming soon will be the rest of the Israel trip where there are some more cracking photos yet to be published and this will be followed by a short trip to Croatia that I've just returned from. I've realised in these milestone posts, that I've now set myself a target to go out & photograph members of the missing families. There are a few common British families to photograph so look forward to exciting posts about Fulmars, Storm-petrels, Skuas, Barn Owls, Dippers, Dunnocks, Bearded Tits, Long-tailed Tits & Treecreepers. A British Wallcreeper would be very welcome as well. So there is plenty to look forward to in coming posts. I'm also going to aim to get over half of the families photographed for the 250 post milestone.
Pittas: Indian Pitta - Jungle Hut, Western Ghats, India (29 Dec 13)
Larks: Thick-billed Lark - Aoussard Road, Western Sahara (12 Feb 14)
Swallows: Brown-throated Sand Martin - Oued Massa, Morocco (14 Feb 14)
Wagtails & Pipits: Nilgiri Pipit - Ooty, Western Ghats, India (31 Dec 13)
Cuckoo-shrikes: Small Minivet - CEDO, Gujarat, India (20 Jan 14)
Bulbuls: Yellow-vented Bulbul - Ein Bokek, Israel (6 April 14)
Crests: Firecrest - Knoll Beach, Studland (13 Nov 13)
Leafbirds: Golden-fronted Leafbird - Jungle Hut, Western Ghats, India (29 Dec 13). The bird is feeding upside down
Ioras: Marshall's Iora - CEDO, Gujarat, India (19 Jan 14)
Hypocolius: Grey Hypocolius - CEDO, Gujarat, India (20 Jan 14)
Wrens: Wren - Rum (1 Nov 13)
Thrushes & Allies: Indian Blackbird - Ooty, Western Ghats, India (31 Dec 13)
Cisticolas & Allies: Cricket Longtail - Aoussard Road, Western Sahara (8 Feb 14)
Grassbirds & Allies: Grasshopper Warbler - Munnar, Western Ghats, India (8 Jan 14)
Reed Warblers & Allies: Clamorous Reed Warbler - CEDO, Gujarat, India (20 Jan 14)
Leaf Warblers: Sulphur-bellied Warbler - Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (22 Jan 14)
Sylvids: African Desert Warbler - Aoussard Road, Western Sahara (8 Feb 14)
Old World Flycatchers: Desert Wheatear - CEDO, Gujarat, India (20 Jan 14)
Fantails: Spot-breasted Fantail - Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (22 Jan 14)
Monarch Flycatchers: Asian Paradise-flycatcher - Chinnar, Western Ghats, India (3 Jan 14)
Laughingthrushes & Allies: Nilgiri Laughingthrush - Ooty, Western Ghats, India (30 Dec 13)
Ground Babblers & Allies: Puff-throated Babbler - Jungle Hut, Western Ghats, India (28 Dec 13)
Yuhinas, White-eyes & Allies: Oriental White-eye - Jungle Hut, Western Ghats, India (29 Dec 13)
Tits & Chickadees: White-naped Tit - CEDO, Gujarat, India (19 Jan 14)
Nuthatches: Indian Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch - Jungle Hut, Western Ghats, India (30 Dec 13)
Sunbirds & Spiderhunters: Little Spiderhunter - Thattekad, Western Ghats, India (5 Jan 14)
Flowerpeckers: Andaman Flowerpecker - Ghandi Park, Port Blair, Andamans, India (22 Dec 13). One of my favourite photos as this Andaman Flowerpecker fed very close to me for some time
Old World Orioles: Black-naped Oriole - Jirgatna, Andamans, India (23 Dec 13). While I have sharper Old World Orioles, I just like the composition in this one
Fairy-bluebirds: Asian Fairy-bluebird - Mount Harriet, Andamans, India (25 Dec 13)
Shrikes: Bay-backed Shrike - CEDO, Gujarat, India (19 Jan 14)
Vangas, Helmetshrikes & Allies: Common Woodshrike - CEDO, Gujarat, India (20 Jan 14)
Drongos: White-bellied Drongo - Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (22 Jan 14)
Woodswallows: Ashy Woodswallow - Periyar, Western Ghats, India (10 Jan 14)
Crows, Jays & Magpies: Rufous Treepie - Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (21 Jan 14)
Starlings: Asian Pied Myna - Salt Lake, Calcutta, India (19 Dec 13)
Old World Sparrows: Desert Sparrow - Aoussard Road, Western Sahara (8 Feb 14)
Weavers & Allies: Baya Weaver - Desert Coursers, Gujarat, India (17 Jan 14)
Waxbills & Allies: Green Avadavat - Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (22 Jan 14)
Siskins, Crossbills & Allies: Siskin - Blashford Lakes (24 March 14)
Buntings & New World Sparrows: Grey-necked Bunting - Desert Coursers, Gujarat, India (17 Jan 14)
Longspurs & Snow Buntings: Snow Bunting - Rum (1 Nov 14)
I hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as I have. For many families, it was quite easy working out my favourite photograph, but some families were really hard to keep to a single photo.
Coming soon will be the rest of the Israel trip where there are some more cracking photos yet to be published and this will be followed by a short trip to Croatia that I've just returned from. I've realised in these milestone posts, that I've now set myself a target to go out & photograph members of the missing families. There are a few common British families to photograph so look forward to exciting posts about Fulmars, Storm-petrels, Skuas, Barn Owls, Dippers, Dunnocks, Bearded Tits, Long-tailed Tits & Treecreepers. A British Wallcreeper would be very welcome as well. So there is plenty to look forward to in coming posts. I'm also going to aim to get over half of the families photographed for the 250 post milestone.
New World Warblers: Cape May Warbler - Unst (29 Oct 13). One of my most memorable British twitches