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.
These vultures could be extinct within a decade, because of the diclofenac... not a happy thought.
What was happening on the ground was interesting as well. We could see the kill (a cheetal) and a crew of crows hopping around. Our guide told us that the tiger must have been in the grass near the kill. Vultures are slow to take off (unlike the crows) and would have fallen prey to the tiger had they joined the feast. Their presence in the trees was therefore a clear indication that the tiger was still around.
ReplyDeleteSekar