The vultures at Kanha

During our 2007 summer trip to Kanha, we saw these four vultures on the sal trees, as they sat and waited patiently for the tiger to leave its kill in the dry grassland below.

Through our binoculars, we could see the vultures very clearly, but our cameras were not powerful enough to get a better shot.  (Those little black specks in the photo on the left!)

We had heard how vultures have become a rare sight in India, and so we were all the more excited by our sighting.  There they sat looking like the Jungle Book crew, and I would not have been surprised if they had broken into a "So what are we going to do now?" conversation!

Our jeep was filled with greenhorns, and when we returned to the dorm to share our sighting, there was much disbelief, as other senior members were quite sure we had seen some storks and mistaken them for the vulture!  Our picture was not conclusive, but the profile - not a stork surely.  Our "honour" was restored when the Kanha guide who came with us confirmed to them that yes, they were vultures!

Sadly, we were the only ones on that trip to have spotted these birds.
These vultures could be extinct within a decade, because of the diclofenac... not a happy thought.

Vultures, Diclofenac, Rabies, and Ecological unravelling

Vultures, Diclofenac, Rabies, and Ecological unravelling

How absolutely depressing.....

We did see a few vultures in Kanha, you know. Sorry for this weak defense.

And the dogs in the cities are growing by the month... Istanbul had a dog problem in the seventies and eighties, it appears.... But they seem to have gotten rid of that problem (I wonder how?), since we didn't see a single stray dog when we went this year.

Corvus splendens - the splendid crow!

We - Indians I mean - have always held the crow in high esteem, and it seems that the Westerners' are now developing a new found admiration for these birds they consider a nuisance.

Take a look.

The only thing is that intelligent crows are likely to see through Joshua Klein's attempts to train them dont you think?

Another one is initiated...

... in to the pleasures of birding in Madras.

Vaishna Roy visited the Guindy National Park, Nanmangalam
and Pallikaranai.

Read her report below:

Outlooktraveller.com

Charlie finds a feeding black kite in Bangalore

It takes guts…a feeding Black Kite

Some gory and fascinating pictures of a black kite in Bangalore's Nandi Hills.

A bit of a ramble from Madras, but what the heck?!

Asian Openbills at Nelpattu

Lining a bund enroute to Nelappatu

I had written about the Pelicans at Nelapattu earlier, but had ignored the OBS, or Asian openbills for some reason... i was obviously more excited by the pelicans than the OBS.

I remember that early December morning when we saw these OBS sitting on a bund, looking rather morose and meditative.  They reminded me of old fishermen sitting by the pier, each lost in their thoughts and memories but drawing on the comfort of each other's silent company!

Around the corner in the fields, we had a closer encounter with these birds.  They were more busy than their bund counterparts, actively looking for snails - that's what they are fond of - in the marshy soil.  

The bills dont quite close, and it is obviously an adaptation to help their feeding.  Like  a set of pliers, the gap helps them to clamp on to their prey maybe?

The grey plumage of their upper body indicates that they are in non-breeding mode.  Those feather become whiter during breeding.

On reaching Nelapattu, we saw them nesting there, along with the pelicans.  They are rather prolific it appears, and they are classified as "birds of least concern" - not endangered by any means!

I hope that status doesn't change for these long-legged, serious birds!

Green.view | Staying the courser | Economist.com

Indian conservationists strive to convince politicians of a small bird’s existence

Green.view | Staying the courser | Economist.com

 AP Forest Dept picture

The article is about the Jerdon's Courser, a small, brown wader that comes out in the night, is very, very  rarely seen and every Indian birdwatcher of repute and age has a story to tell about trying to see one or having seen one!

Considered extinct for a while, then "rediscovered" in 2003,  by Bharat Bhushan, who is an MNS and BNHS member,  the little bird's cause has been taken up by the BNHS - kudos to them - who seem to have successfully changed the course of the planned Telegu-Ganga canal, to avoid this bird's territory.

The paragraph from the article which I like best is this -

With many troublesome conservationists—and righteous judges—India has guarded its magnificent wildlife perhaps surprisingly well. Though poor, densely populated and home to many threatened species, it has lost only a handful of animals in recent decades: for example, the Asiatic cheetah, Javanese rhinoceros and Sikkim stag. And it has lost only two species of bird: the pink-headed duck and Himalayan mountain quail. Like the Jerdon’s courser, the forest owlet was also ruled extinct before it was rediscovered. A fish, the Ladakh snow trout, may have similarly have re-emerged from the abyss.

This gives India a better record in conservation than many countries. Yet its wildlife is nonetheless in dreadful jeopardy: from a poor and fast-growing population, eating into India’s remaining forests and marshes; and also, increasingly, from infrastructure projects, fuelled by strong economic growth. The IUCN now groups India with China, Brazil and Indonesia, as countries with the highest number of species facing extinction. Many will no doubt slip more quietly into that long night than the Jerdon’s courser.

A pat on the back for all the hardworking  environmentalists?  

Listen to the call of the courser