Today, the 25th May, 2025, an adult male Shikra was observed, perched on a branch within a medium-height tree in a private garden in Coimbatore, India. The bird remained stationary for several minutes during light rainfall, allowing close photographic documentation. Notable features included bright red irises, slate-grey upperparts, and finely rufous-barred underparts, consistent with a mature male.
A particularly interesting behavior was noted: the bird rotated its head nearly 180 degrees while perched, seemingly scanning its surroundings. This neck rotation was documented in two sequential photographs taken from the same location. Is it possible? I am amazed.
Saludos from another peninsula, the Yucatán. What a beautiful experience you have documented. Did you put your Observation on the main website as well? (iNaturalist.org – this is just the discussion forum.)
This is the species, yes?
I do not know much, but I do know owls can turn their heads quite robustly. To me, who again knows little, it makes sense that as a bird of prey it would have excellent neck rotation to be order to scan.
@thebirdersway or @austin_ajit do you have knowledge of this bird?
edit to add: I have never heard of this bird before so thank you very much for showing it to me.
Thank you so much for your compliments. I didn’t upload on the main websie. Will try it. This bird is called ‘Shikra’ (Accipiter badius) — a small bird in the hawk found widely across the Indian subcontinent.
welcome to the forum! Just a heads up that I’ve unlisted this topic since we use inaturalist.org for posting observations rather than the forum.
