Rendezvous with Bubo bubo - a first encounter

Bubo bubo is a new personality I came across in November 2007, and such a handsome specimen was he that I had to write about him. He goes by many aliases - Great Indian horned owl and Eurasian eagle Owl. For a beginner like me, its bad enough trying to remember one name, but three?!

This huge owl nests in the scrub forest of Nanmangalam, and is a regular "attraction" to the MNS members who go there. So, in a sense he was the goal of our Sunday walk this time, and he didnt let us down. He sat magnificently and posed for all of us, unmoving for the most part.

It was not a good day to go birding - cloudy, with light rain spells, but nevertheless 19 of us did show up. "Asemble at the Vengai vassal bus stop, at 2:30. Ask for Quaid-e-millat college," was the instruction, and I of course (in the absence of my more sensible husband who would never set off like this I am sure) didnt get detailed directions on how to get there. "Oh, just go on the Velachery-Tambaram road, and ask anybody, they'll tell you," was the off-hand comment that I very bravely set off with my 11 year old son for company.

When we did get on this road, we came across a couple of college-going girls on the roadside, and decided that they should know about colleges in the neighbourhood. They gave us look, which could translate as "hello, which road are you on, dont you know where you are going?" and declared that there was no such place in the vicinity! By this time of course, the drizzle had become persistent, and of course we didnt know whether we were on the right road in the first place. My son, quite used to his mad mother, said, "Oh well, we can have a drive and then go home", in a rather resigned tone, when I spied a security guard outside some fancy gate, which said institute of ocean technology or some such.

When we asked him for directions, he said, "innu oru anju km poanu maa, idhe road, straighta." Aah, what joy, three cheers for the guard, we thanked him in a hurry and carried on. The road - not bad actually - wound through Medavakkam, and just kept going, when suddenly I saw a familiar profile in the Palio ahead of me.

"Isnt that Arun" I asked. Who else would wear a cap inside a car in Madras? Now I had a problem, if I did wave, and yell and catch their attention and it was not who we thought it was, it would be rather embarassing wouldnt it? So a bold overtaking move had to be undertaken. Bold because we were now in some crowded parts of some locality with an assortment of cycles, three wheelers, pedestrians and of course buses going in both directions. Overtaking was achieved, it was Arun, and we waved and heaved a sigh of relief, that yes there were other mad hatters also going the same way.

Now we followed obediently, and found soon an array of cars lining up behind us. We stopped and all the cars disgorged their occupants, each calling the other mad to be going out in this weather, but nobody turning back.

So off we went into the forest, with the undergrowth all wet with the rain, so were we in a short period of time. First discovery was that "landmine" in naturalist jargon is for excrement of the human kind!

Bhanu introduced me to -

• The thumbai flower - Leucas sp. may be Leucas aspera. An erect herb with white flowers.
  
•  Ashy social spiders - they are the only spider which live in colonies
  
• Spittle bugs - that hide in their spit
  
• Gloriosa superba - our state flower! Glory lily or Kalappai kizangu is Gloriosa superba. It is a climbing herb with white tuberous root. 
  
• The three inch long thorns of Dichrostachys cinerea. 
  
• the plentiful Dodonia viscosa shrubs, with shiny leaves
  
• the lovely star-shaped Carissa spinarum flowers in the undergrowth
  
• The pilayar kannu seeds of Abrus precatorius, which is a climber. The seeds are red with black spots.

In a little while, the drizzle stopped, and the swallows took to the air, swooping and whizzing by. Bulbuls were aplenty, as also babblers.

The picture is taken by Raghavan of MNS, better known as Rags, who came along with us on the walk, and kept his camera so well hidden that we were surprised to see the picture! Thanks Rags!

But of course Mr Bubo was the highlight of the walk (along with Bhanu's ringtone, which went tadatadatad, hello, then tadatada, helloo, and so on. Both phone and owner getting increasingly frantic as they scrabbled to find each other!)

Did you see the legs of the owl in the picture? You wouldn't want to mess with this bird, almost 2 ft high, and with a piercing stare. These owls position themselves on rock or cliff faces, and the abandoned quarry walls at Nanmangalam provide a suitable perch and nest for these birds.

Even my son had to admit it was quite a sight. I hope next time, we are lucky to see them fly, because their wingspan will be impressive.