Indian Silverbill (Lonchura malabarica)

A very sweet Indian Silverbill gave me an opportunity to take his photograph at quite close range. As you can probably tell he's rather hot, even in the shade at the moment in Oman, it is very hot and humid. I think we may be in for some 'interesting' weather soon with the Arabian and Indian seas heating up and there is much speculation about the effects of El Niño, so long as we get a bit of a respite I say bring it on! Obviously I don't want anyone to suffer or be inconvenienced but it really is too hot.
Anyway back to the Silverbills and if you look closely you can see this bird has an almost 'origami' shaped bill and it is only when you can get close to birds you see these interesting details. As they are very sociable birds there wasn't just one but a whole family chattering away on the palm tree, a short but sweet trip! This bird is quite a bit smaller than a House Sparrow at 11cm from beak to tail tip.