Cotton Pygmy Goose

Description:

One of the world's smallest water-fowls says Wikipedia. The female has lovely eye liner and the white face of the male has a wonderfully contrasting black crown.

Habitat:

Waterbody full of aquatic vegetation by the side of the road. In Bengal waterbodies that lie parallel to roads are called Nayanjuli...this one was more like a large pond. The trees lining this pond were hospitable, providing refuge to herons, open-billed storks and cormorants. It was an incline from the road to the pond's surface, so the birds were undisturbed by people or the noisy traffic.

Notes:

Migratory in West Bengal where these are called Bali-haansh. many stories feature this bird. These used to be hunted.