Owl's kiss...

Yet another story from my recent visit to Thattekad... 

There is a pair of resident Brown Hawk Owls (Ninox scutulata), near the place where I stayed. I used to see them whenever I visit Thattekad. They used to be found at the same place usually, daily, unless disturbed by the Bonnet Macaques. Even the local people there, like security guards, workers, house maids, etc., are familiar with this owl pair.

This time, after my morning session and lunch, did a short walk, and found the Owl pair. They were found not so active, eyes closed, and sitting in a branch. I was busy observing the other birds found in that place, like Asian paradise flycatcher, Jungle Babblers, etc. After a while, we noticed that the Owl pair started kissing each other.  

The kissing was intimate and was going on for more than 10 minutes. It was adoring to watch, and I managed to get some images of the show. 

Why do birds kiss?

We all have seen the so called Love Birds in cages, Parakeets, etc., kiss each other. Actually, they are not kissing, rather, they are preening each other. 

What is Preening?

Preening is a bird's way of grooming its feathers to keep them in the best condition. While preening, birds will remove dust, dirt and parasites from their feathers and align each feather in the optimum position relative to adjacent feathers and body shape. Most birds will preen several times a day to keep themselves healthy. Preening keeps feathers in good condition.

Owl's Preen:

Owls may preen with their talons as well as their beaks. In fact, some of the owls like the Barn owl has a special comblike talon that is used just for preening. Because an owl can't preen its own head with its beak, it uses its talons to groom this area, or it may solicit help from another owl.
Mutual preening is a very common owl activity. The behavior seems to make owls less aggressive toward one another. Courting owls strengthen their pair-bond by preening each other. Parents and their chicks also engage in mutual preening.

Fight of Navrang

I am visiting Thattekad - Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in Cochin, Kerala, for the past 2 years during winter. I like the place, for its abundance & colours in bird life. During my last visit, I wished to see Grey-headed Bulbul, which is one of the highlights of the place, but I missed it. 

Few weeks later, I decided to visit the place again for a weekend, just for Grey-headed Bulbul. I booked the tickets and started, just for one day, only for the particular bird. 

I was lucky that, the first bird I saw and clicked was the Grey-headed Bulbul. There were around 10-12 birds, foraging the fruits (called "muLLiyampazham", locally). Usually, a plenty of these birds are found in these trees. But as the fruiting season was getting over, I couldn't find many of them. I was happy, as the mission was accomplished, and anything else I get will be a bonus.

Post-lunch, I was birding in a thicket, searching for Cuckoos. Though I didn't see any cuckoos, I saw an Indian Pitta, flying low. It landed inside a thick bush. Then I noticed, there were two Pittas. I was exited to see them together. I tried to make some images with both of them in one frame, but the bush was extremely thick, and I was not close enough. I didn't move forward but stayed there, as I didn't want to disturb the events like - mating or combat, that might happen. I waited for some action...

As I expected, they started a territorial combat and displayed an amazing behaviour. The display was a sequence of actions:

• Both will look at the left, with it's (small) neck stretched, 
• then, both will look at the right with neck stretched,
• then, they show their sides, and 
• display in the ground by spreading the colourful wings,
• and all of a sudden, they jump towards each other, face-to-face in the air
• In the event, one tries to dominate the other while jumping

(Looking at each other, with neck stretched, like a stare, I have observed this behaviour in Indian Blue Robin as well).

This happened for 3-4 times. I tried my best to capture the moment, but the bush was too thick with very less visibility as well as the distance was also a challenge. 

They saw each other

Look at the left

Look at the right

Look at the left again

Display in the ground

Just before the jump

Face-off in the air

Display in the air

One dominates the other

Again look at the left

The winner might be decided

Later, when referring Wikipedia, I understand that:
Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitta

//
The pittas are strongly territorial, with territories varying in size from 3000 m² in the African Pitta to 10,000m² in the Rainbow Pitta. Pittas will perform territory defence displays on the edges of their territories, although fights between rivals have only been recorded once. Migratory species will defend non-breeding feeding territories in addition to their breeding ones.
//

I am not sure, if this is such a rare event and I am really lucky to witness and record it. I wanted to share what I experienced.

The term "Navrang" in the title means "Nine colours" in Hindi, which is used to represent Indian Pitta as "Navrang Pakshi" or "nine coloured bird", as it has nine colours in its plumage.

Geese of India

Actually, no Geese belongs to India alone. Geese are migratory birds, and are found in different parts of the world depending upon the season. 

There are 4 species of Geese, that visits India during winter. I was lucky enough to see and photograph all the 4 species of Geese in one single trip with Darter (www.darter.in) during last december 2013, at Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) in Gujarat, including the rarest of the rare White fronted Geese.

The 4 types of Goose that visits India are:

• Bar-headed Goose
• Greylag Goose
• Lesser White fronted Goose
• Greater White fronted Goose

A Goose is a medium sized bird found in Europe, Asia and North America. They build their nests in north during the warmer summer months and migrate south in the winter to warmer climates. They are omnivorous and feed on insects, grubs, small fish and plankton in the water. Geese spend a great deal of time on the water and have special adaptations such as webbed feet which make their aquatic life easier.

Geese tend to have the same mating partners for their entire lives, and if not all of it then most of it. The bond between male and female geese partners is very strong and they will often spend most of their time together with both the male goose and the female goose building the nest and raising their young.

Geese have a number of natural predators like raptors, foxes, etc., although, due to the size and strength of a goose, predatory animals don't always have an easy time if they fancy goose for dinner. Humans are among one of the most common predators of geese, as geese are hunted all around the world for their meat and feathers.

The average lifespan of a goose is between 20 and 30 years.

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Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus):

Bar headed Geese

Bar headed Geese

The Bar-headed Geese are world's highest altitude migrants. They live and breed at high-altitude lakes in the mountainous regions of China, Mongolia, Afganistan, Kazakhastan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan and Russia (Central Asian); winters in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Within Indian limit these birds breeds in Ladhak.

To reach their wintering grounds, bar-haeded geese migrates from Russia to China and then cross Himalayas to enter into India. Some observer reported that they had seen these birds flying over the Mt. Everest (29,028 feet)! They don't understand how these birds survive in that hostile environment where mountaineers could suffer deziness, altitude sickness and even die due to oxyzen scareity.

Researchers found Bar-headed geese are capable to survive in low oxyzen conditions because of their hemoglobin. They could fly constantly for hours which keeps their body warm. They fly 50 miles an hour and cross 1000-mile migration route in just one day.

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Greater & Lesser White Fronted Goose (Anser albifrons & Anser erythropus):

It was the last day in LRK, and the next day we are starting to GRK. The last day morning, we decided to spend the time near a lake. The day was just starting, and we could see hundreds of ducks and pelicans in the water, roosting. We were waiting for the sun to come out, and we get some light for the photography. While we were watching the ducks, we noticed a flock of Geese grazing near the corner of the place. They were looking like Greylag Goose, and we slowly walked towards them to photograph. We were lying on the ground, taking few shots, waiting, and then again moving forward. After a while, we realised, that they are not Greylag Geese, but the rarest of all Geese - Greater White fronted Geese. We were all excited, and we managed to get some decent shots. We returned back to our jeeps and noticed that all of them are not Greater White fronted, but there is one Lesser White fronted Goose also among the flock. It was a pleasant surprise for all of us, to get two different and rare species in the same place.

Greater and Lesser White fronted Geese - The one grazing with yellow ring around eyes is Lesser

Lesser and Greater White fronted Geese grazing together - the one with Yellow ring around eyes is Lesser White fronted Geese

The Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) breeds across the tundra from Nunavut to Siberia, across Russia, and in Greenland. The Greater White-fronted Goose has one of the largest ranges of any geese species in the world.

The Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) is listed as Vulnerable because of a rapid population reduction in its key breeding population in Russia, and equivalent declines are predicted to continue.

This is the first photographic record for both these species from Gujarat. 

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Greylag Goose (Anser anser):

Greylag Geese

Greylag Geese

The Greylag is the largest and bulkiest of the grey geese of the genus Anser.

Greylag geese are a migratory species and their breeding and wintering range extends across much of Europe and Asia. Greylags breed in Iceland, around the North Sea and Baltic coasts of Scandinavia, Finland and Northern Europe, and southwards through central Eastern Europe and western Russia as far south as the Black Sea. Winter populations range from the Iberian east coast, across southern Europe and Asia Minor, through the Himalayas and Thailand to the China Sea.

Dump-yard Birding

 

A Steppe eagle flying during a Sunset

This is one of my favourite images from my photo collection!

Can you guess from where this picture was photographed??

This was photographed from one of the terrible “dump-yard” in India, called Jorbeer. Jorbeer is a protected area around 15 Km from Bikaner in Rajasthan. People throw carcasses of cattle everyday in this place, which attracts thousands of raptors like eagles and vultures that migrate to India during winter.

I visited Tal Chhapar Blackbuck sanctuary with Darter (http://darter.in) during Jan 2013, for photographing the migratory raptors and grassland birds. Tal Chhapar is beautiful grassland and though it is a blackbuck sanctuary, you find wide variety of fauna.  I wanted the experience again, and visited the place again during Nov 2013. As a part of the tour, we visit this “dump-yard” near Bikaner.

 

Jorbeer, landscape

Thousands of Eurasian Griffon, Egyptian vultures and Steppe Eagles are found here, along with other raptors like Cinereous Vultures, Tawny eagles, Eastern Imperial Eagles, Spotted Eagles, Long legged Buzzards, Black eared Kites, Laggar Falcons, etc. For a birder, it will be a dream place to find at least 7-10 raptors sitting on a small tree.

 

The majority - Egyptian Vulture, Steppe eagle and Eurasian Griffon vulture

A rough estimate puts the number of migratory vultures at about 1,200 at Jorbeer (Bikaner). The place nowadays is dominated by big sized migrant Eurasian Griffon variety that is about one meter long and with a wingspan of 265 cm looks intimidating with grayish black color.
Three migratory varieties are seen in the area and they are Eurasian Griffon coming from Spain and Turkey, Cinereous from Mongolia and Tibet and Himalayan Griffons from Central Asia. The later two varieties are less in number while the Eurasian comes in large number. The local varieties are Egyptian and King Vulture. The migratory vultures start coming in October and stay till February-March, they come here to pass harsh winters at their native place.

Some of the images I could manage from the “dump-yard” are here:

 

Eurasian Griffon

Eurasian Griffons

Egyptian Vultures - Adult and Juvenile

Cinereous Vulture - note the size difference with Egyptian vulture

Eurasian Griffon

  

Steppe eagle - juvenile

Steppe Eagle - The mighty one

Eastern Imperial Eagle - juvenile

Tawny eagles

A Steppe eagle scape

Cinereous Vulture

Apart from birds, it is a good place to photograph some of the mammals like Nilghais, Chinkaras (Indian Gazelles), Desert Jirds, etc.

Nilghai females posing

Chinkara - Indian Gazelle

Desert Jird

This dumping ground is one of the reliable place to find some of the rarest of the rare birds like Yellow-eyed Pigeon, Cream coloured Coursers, etc.

 

Yellow eyed Pigeons

The rare Yellow-eyed Pigeon, at the turn of the 19th century, used to migrate to India in swarming flocks during winter. However, habitat destruction and unrestrained hunting had driven them out of their wintering grounds in India. But now, the highly vulnerable species is making a comeback and favors this dump-yard in Rajasthan. The birds’ reappearance is great news for the conservation of their numbers.

The Cream coloured Courser, is another winter visitor to India, and is not found commonly anywhere else.

 

Cream coloured Courser

Another highlight of the “dump-yard” is the Sunset! One can make amazing sunset images with the colourful sky of setting sun at the background with raptors’ activity in the front. 

Tree full

Apart from the raptors, many other birds here, like babblers, egrets, starlings, shrikes, ibises, etc., find this place a great opportunity for food, which are abundant from the decomposing dead bodies.

Red naped Ibis

Common Starling

This place is also infested by feral dogs, which are extremely territorial and people visit here in four-wheelers are generally not advised to get down from their vehicles, as it becomes very dangerous with these local dogs. They are well fed and look intimidating.

A feral dog pup

My birding guru once said, “dump-yard” is one of the best place for birding. I never expected that I could make some of the best images I have in my collection, from this terrible dump-yard.

A Vegetarian Lizard

During my recent visit to Tal Chhapar Blackbuck Sanctuary in Rajastan, we were observing the various life forms in the grasslands. We came across a reptile called Spiny tailed lizard. As the name indicates, it has got a spiny tail, and lives in burrows in open dry land. 

In the month of Sep/Oct, there would be plenty of these reptiles, all around the place, and this reptile is one of the main prey-base in this habitat for many birds and mammals. Even huge reptiles like monitor lizards feed on these reptiles. 

We formed groups and decided to lie down flat on the ground at a distance from different Spiny tailed lizard burrows, waiting for the reptile to show up.

We waited and waited, in the mid-day scorching sun for about 30-40 minutes. Finally, the lizard showed up. It slowly came out of the burrow, and started basking. We could photograph some good profile images of the reptile.

After sometime, I noticed an ant crawling towards the lizard. I got myself ready for an action shot, for the lizard grabbing the ant. I waited patiently for the ant to crawl near the lizard. It did so, I am lucky, I thought. Now, is the moment... be ready to shoot... the lizard will grab the ant, I will get a shot, may be with the tongue out.

The ant crawled very close to the lizard, no action from the reptile. It crawled over the lizard and passed. I was surprised to see a lizard not even reacting for an insect that crawls over it. 

Then I came to know that, Spiny tailed lizards are herbivorous animals. The Indian spiny-tailed lizard (Saara hardwickii, syn. Uromastyx hardwickii) is a species of agamid lizard found patchily distributed in the Thar desert, Kutch and surrounding arid zones in India and Pakistan. These lizards are mainly herbivorous are live in numbers in some areas. These lizards are found in loose clusters and attract raptors and predators. They are also hunted by local peoples in the belief that the fat extracted from it is an aphrodisiac.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saara_hardwickii