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Sunday, October 28, 2007

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher, also known as the universal Paradise Flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It was until that time classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now in general grouped with the drongos in the family Dicruridae, which has most of its members in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher breeds from Turkistan to Manchuria. It is drifting, wintering in tropical Asia. There are resident populations further south, for example in southern India and Sri Lanka, so both visiting migrants and the close by breeding variety occurs in these areas in winter.

This species is typically found in thick forests and other well-wooded habitats. Three or four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a tree.

The adult male Asian Paradise Flycatcher is about 20 cm long, but the long tail decorations double this. It has a black crested head, chestnut upperparts and pale grey under parts.

The female of all races resembles the stale joke male, but has a grey throat, smaller crest and lacks the tail streamers.

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp sweet call. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched significantly, like a shrike. It is insectivorous, often hunting by fly catching.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal is a bay that forms the northeastern ingredient of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in form, and is bordered on the east by Malay Peninsula, and on the west by India. On the northern pour of the "bay" lies the Bengal region, comprising the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh, thus the name. The southern extremes arrive at the island country of Sri Lanka, and the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Bay of Bengal occupies an region of 2,172,000 km². It is bounded by India and Sri Lanka to the West, Bangladesh to the North, and Myanmar and the southern part of Thailand to the East. Its southern border extends as an imaginary line from Dondra Head at the southern end of Sri Lanka to the northern tip of Sumatra. A number of huge rivers – Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna and Cauvery – flow into the Bay of Bengal. Among the vital ports are Yangon, Kolkata/Calcutta, Chittagong, Cuddalore, Kakinada, Machlipatnam, Madras, Paradip and Vishakapatnam.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Asia

Asia is the world's biggest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's present human population.

Chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, Asia is conventionally defined as part of the landmass of Africa-Eurasia – with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe – lying east of the Suez Canal, east of the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas. It is surrounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the Indian Ocean, and to the north by the Arctic Ocean.
Given its size and diversity, Asia – a toponym dating back to classical antiquity – is more a cultural concept incorporating a number of regions and peoples than a homogeneous, physical entity.