Pongal at Point Calimere - The ubiquitous Brahminy Kites

Continued from the feral horses.

Brahminy kite, with a fish in its mouth.

They were everywhere, on the trees, soaring above in the skies, over the water, in coconut trees, on electricity poles, by the fishermen's boats, and even on roof tops!

I have never in my life seen such a congregation of brahminy kites!

At the pumphouse

Again, with a prey - seems to be a lizard.

Mr Ramanan says:   "They are fearless when they steal fishes from the fishermen which was evident even when an auction of fishes took place among thirty odd people, they pierce the crowd fearlessly and take away the fishes. 


But they really failed when they chased a feeding young one of sunbird as it flew very close to one of the fence made out of thorny materials of a house. Whereas in the pumping house, which pumps sea water to the saltpan, the Brahminy Kites hovers and wait for as and when the river terns catch the fish which comes out of the salt water from the pump, it chases them and using its legs, hit them at the back so that the river tern drops the fish which can be easily taken away by them as it success rate of catching the fish compare to the river tern is less."

Mr Ramanan's photo - at the pump house, the marauders!

Photo by Mr Ramanan.

 Rags captured a brahminy kite flying at dusk, and another fabulous shot of the kite fishing.

Continued.  Next, Waders, where art thou?

The vulnerable Great Indian Bustard

Today's paper and this news item in the BBC a couple of days ago, show the vulnerability of the Great indian Bustard in India today.

A report on the Jaisalmer Desert National Park by Mr Ramanan, had highlighted this bird.

Great Indian Bustard - Photo by Mr Ramanan

BBC News - Concern over plans to downgrade Indian national park reports that there is pressure to de-classify the Karera bird sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. It is an interesting article as it documents the man-creature conflict in India, so typical of the situation for all birds and animals that cannot survive with us.

The authorities in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are under pressure to declassify a national park because much of its rare bird life is believed to have been lost forever. Locals eager to have free use of the land complain the park's special status prevents them from doing so.

But critics say any move to downgrade Karera bird sanctuary - created in 1981, principally to help save the Great Indian bustard - would be an admission that conservation efforts there have failed.

If ratified by the central government and the Supreme Court, Karera will become the country's first national park to lose its official recognition.

Conjugal success
The residents of 33 villages in the 200 sq-km (124 sq-mile) sanctuary argue the Great Indian bustard has not been seen in more than 10 years because of "habitat destruction".

Villagers say no rare wildlife exists any more. The Great Indian bustard is one of the world's heaviest flying birds. It lost out to the peacock when India's national bird was decided - reportedly because of its tricky spelling and the peacock's more attractive looks. Apart from Madhya Pradesh, it is found in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

At Dihaliya, a village on the banks of Dihaliya lake, villagers explain how the sanctuary has affected their lives and livelihoods. They are not allowed to buy, sell or make any significant changes to the land and cannot mine it, or carry out any kind of construction work - even building irrigation canals is not easy.

Jawahar Singh, the village head, says there are more than 35,000 people living in villages adjoining the sanctuary. "Our sons cannot find brides as they cannot raise money by selling land if required," he said. Manoj Siwari, from Phatehpur village, is 25 years old and says he has been turned down five times by prospective brides. He blames the national park for his failure to marry. "Please declassify this sanctuary so that we can organise our lives," he said.

"There are no rare birds here any more. We are being held to ransom unnecessarily. During marriage discussions, people criticise us for our inability to raise money. It is not fair."

Hostility
Great Indian bustards were once found in great numbers in Karera - an area characterised by semi-arid grasslands. In an attempt to save the 15 or so birds left, the area was classified as a sanctuary in 1981. The population grew for a few years to up to 40 birds, but it has since dropped steadily and not a single Great Indian bustard has been sighted since 1994. In view of this, the state government has sent a proposal to the central government to declassify the sanctuary.

GK Sharma, a forest officer, says villagers' hostility has affected conservation efforts.
"When we built watch towers, they tore them down. They do not kill the animals but do not report any illegal activity either. It was difficult to build relations with the residents as they felt forest officers were friends of the birds and therefore were their enemies."

However, it was not always like this. Asad Rahmani, director of Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai, worked for more than six years in the sanctuary in the late 1980s and early 1990s. "The bird does not mind farming land and there was no poaching in this area," he said.

"But constant habitat destruction is the main reason for its disappearance. We had given a detailed plan to protect it but nothing was done. In fact the figures of 35 to 40 bustards were inflated."

'Fix responsibility'
The bird prefers walking to flying and requires undisturbed nesting areas. If the egg or offspring do not survive, bustards are known to desert that particular area - if the offspring survives, they will return to the same place.

Mechanised farming and over-grazing by cattle and sheep - combined with increasing human encroachment - are the main reasons cited for the bird's habitat being disturbed.

The bird has disappeared over a period of time. Its disappearance from the sanctuary is a cause of concern, wildlife experts say, and is an indicator of the health of the country's grassland ecosystems. One of the recommendations in Dr Rahmani's plan is to "fix responsibility" for the disappearance of the bird. Activists say those to blame should be held to account.

"The bird has disappeared over a period of time. Something could have been done earlier. It is impossible to hold any one person responsible," says Alok Kumar, chief conservator of forests.
Dr Rahmani suggests protecting pockets of about 200 hectares in different parts of the park to rebuild a habitat after it loses its special status - in which only traditional farming methods not resisted by the birds would be allowed.

The conflict between conservation and promoting the needs of farmers has intensified because of government apathy over the years. The vast expanse of the Karera bird sanctuary looks parched and barren in mid-summer. Herds of cattle and sheep graze every few kilometres. This used to be the bustards' breeding season in Karera but not any more.

The golden bird gave up on this home many years ago. It is a scenario which would be a tragedy if repeated in India's other national parks - home to some of the world's most endangered animals, including the tiger.

An article in today's Chennai edition of Times of India reported that Andhra irrigation projects spell doom for birds at the Rollapadu sanctuary in AP

Andhra Pradesh’s only bustard sanctuary located at Rollapadu in Kurnool district could soon become history with the population of this bird species dropping from 60 to just 10. In fact, in the last three years alone, the Rollapadu sanctuary which was one among the best of the six bustard sanctuaries in India for long, has lost over a dozen of these endangered birds to government schemes.
Wildlife experts point out that the change in landscape of the sanctuary from grassland to wetland due to populist irrigation schemes of the government, has led to this serious loss. With paddy fields replacing groundnut plants around the sanctuary, the habitat is no longer conducive for the great Indian bustard that is accustomed to stonestrewn, sparsely vegetated land, they say. Even unwarranted afforestation near the sanctuary, spread roughly over 9 sq km, has added to the mess. Speculations are that many of these birds have migrated to the sanctuary in neighbouring Karnataka while those left in the state have stopped breeding due to lack of a favourable habitat. Either way, the state is fast losing its rich bustard population and might soon be left with none.
“The first damage was done when a reservoir was built close to the sanctuary as part of the Telugu-Ganga project about eight years ago. That changed the area into a wetland and villagers started paddy cultivation around the place,” said C Srinivasulu, associate professor of zoology, Osmania University who has worked on the subject at Rollapadu. He added, “The change in cropping pattern wiped out all groundnut trees that usually provide fodder for bustards.” Prof

Srinivasulu fears that at this rate, Rollapadu could soon join the list of sanctuaries such as Nanaj in Maharashtra and Karera in Madhya Pradesh that have lost all their bustards over the years. For some enthusiasts it is the unnecessary afforestation programmes of the government that have led to this destruction of bustard habitat.
They claim that budgets earmarked for such plantation drives are “randomly” spent by the department without much thought given to such matters. “Saplings of several fastgrowing trees have been planted around the sanctuary only because the department had to somehow spend the money sanctioned for the same,” said a member of the World Wildlife Foundation’s AP chapter adding, “This has raised the groundwater level of the area and changed the landscape. Consequently, we have lost many bustards.”
A less popular theory about the dwindling number of bustards is the increase in black buck population in Rollapadu.

In March 2010, a couple of MNS members had visited Rollapadu and enjoyed the grasslands. They did see plenty of blackbuck, but also wolves, several raptors and other bird life.

They have a whole album of Rolapadu pictures here.

In India, with great difficulty, land is designated as sanctuary land, and it would be a complete and utterly retrogade step to de-classify these lands, don't you think?

Does it not make more sense to try to revive these areas, rather than de-classify them?

28th June update:

============

Jairam Ramesh has appealed to the Gujarat government to increase their efforts in saving the grasslands of Adbassa in Kutch, Gujarat for the sake of the bustard.

Jaisalmer Desert National Park

Mr Ramanan, along with his family, visited the Jaisalmer Desert National Park earlier this year. Jaisalmer is in the western part of Rajasthan in the heart of the Thar Desert. An outpost in the desert, it has its share of forts and palaces as well. In fact, most tourists visit Jaisalmer to get a feel of the desert, and to see its fort, havelis and the local culture.

The Jaisalmer DNP is a large sanctuary and one of the important ones in India, showcasing desert flora and fauna. So, here is his trip report, which makes for interesting reading! And of course his wonderful photos.

We in the south are so familiar with rain-fed forests like Top slip and kalakaddu, so a first-time visit to a DNP leads us to wonder what living thing can there possibly be, in such a bone-dry area? We reached Jaisalmer by the only train which runs daily from Delhi to Jaisalmer.

We boarded the train at Jaipur around 12.30 in the night and one has to be very careful to board the right bogie as the train splits in to two! One goes to Barmer and the other Jaisalmer. After 13 hours we were in Jaisalmer, and after Jodhpur on the either side of the track from the train itself we started seeing desert creatures like peacock, demoiselle crane, vultures and foxes.

From here we have proceeded to Sam Dhani which is about 50 KM from Jaisalmer where we stayed with RTDC resort. As we didn’t have the time to go DNP on the same evening we enjoyed a package tourist thamasha at Sam Dhani. The package includes a drive on the camel to sand dunes, where we were allowed to stay and enjoy the sunset. We were then taken to another resort to witness a local cultural programme for two hours.

The next day we could enter the DNP only after 7.30 am as the people are reluctant to start very early morning. To get into the park a permit is compulsory, as we knew about it we got it from the Director DNP at Jaisalmer itself. For an Indian for a day permit cost about Rs 285 and for foreigners it is difficult as they have to get first permission from the district magistrate. Then, based on this the Director will issue permit for them and it is expensive for them.

The drive to DNP is 30 odd KM from Sam Dhani. Along the way, we saw several BSF and army camps as the DNP is situated close to the Pakistan border. Our vehicle is not permitted inside and the only mode of sight seeing inside the park is by camel cart and it is really indeed eco-tourism!

Laggar Falcon

The terrain is made up of rocks, compact salt lake bottoms and sand. Huge sand dunes form about 20 percent of the park but you will probably not get a chance to see it. The flora comprises of Dhok, Ronj, Salai, Bear and Palm trees. We proceeded on the camel cart and inspite of the open terrain we were unable to locate any of the game there as all of them are so well camouflaged. So in the first drive we solely depended on the cart driver. He described all the desert species in the local language.

Quails
On the second day our eyes got used to the terrain and we ourselves started spotting and enjoying all the birds and animals. We sighted various types of vultures - white backed, long billed, cinerous,white scavenger and the red headed. Also, all the three sand grouses - black bellied, spotted and chestnut coloured.

Immature Egyptian vulture?
Cinerous vulture - seen only in semi-arid terrain
White-rumped or white-backed vulture- Gyps bengalensis

Eurasian collared doveWe also sighted falcons and lot of eagles which I couldn’t ID. Brown-headed ravens, bulbuls, house sparrows, shrikes, doves and desert wheater are commonly sighted. And finally of course the Great Indian Bustard very far off. They are very shy and photographing them inside the park, for that matter any birds or animals is very difficult as they are not at photographic distances.

Great Indian Bustard

Chinkara and foxes are commonly sighted inside. We saw two kinds of foxes the one with black tipped tail is known as Desert fox and another with white tailed which is slightly smaller than the other one is Bengal fox.

Desert fox

I didn’t make a note of all the species as I was concentrating on photography and still I was sure that I would have seen more than 80 species of birds and three species of animals!
Cinkara - male and female

A dust storm started on the second day evening. This was an experience in itself. We couldn’t get to the park but we witnessed the beautiful sight of changing shape of sand dunes from our resort. The storm covered what we tourists spread over it like plastic cups and bags and empty bottles and we saw the real beauty of the desert. But the sad part of it was that the next day again our tourists invaded the area with more and more of plastic bags and bottles. The “YELLOW BEAUTY”, as the local call the sand dunes lasted only for a few hours.

Sand dunes after the dust storm

The next day morning again we ventured into the DNP but sighting was very poor because of the dust storm but we were enthralled by the camel cart driver who insisted that we should get married to many girls so that we will have lot of boy children and further narrated that he was married to four wives and had more than fourteen children!! I hope at least he will remember his number of children.

Feeding treepie

From there we travelled back to Jaipur and made a one day trip to Sariska Tiger reserve only in vain. We didn’t see the radio collared Ranthambhore tigers but when we were inside a check post which is called as Kalli Katti, one of the jeep drivers and the forest guard asked us do you have biscuits with you? So we gave him a few and immediately he ground it into a fine powder, asked my daughter to spread both hands and poured them on her hands. From nowhere about 30 tree pies emerged and without any hesitation started feeding from my daughters’ hands.

We really enjoyed it but on our way back I saw the instruction board of the forest department which instructed tourist not to feed the animals. Did it apply to the birds as well?

Mugger-Sariska
Grey Langur relaxing - Sariska
Black-tailed Godwit - Sariska
Sunset - Jaisalmer

A Raptor photo essay

Picasa Web Albums - Chennai Birder - Raptors

Some great photos by Skandan.

I always have a problem with raptor ids...they have so many variations that its not funny!

Why are there so many kites in Bangalore?

Just back from a quick trip to Bangalore. The reason-to-go was a wedding in the family. What I did a lot was spend time in a car - a nice, comfy black car actually, much better than any cab I could have taken - as I went from one part of the city to another. So, an hour from the station to Indira Nagar, almost two hours from there to Banashankari, getting lost from there to Jayanagar, before I headed back to the station.

Okay, okay, it was not all on the same day, and in the middle of that I did have my auto rides in the city as well, but you get the point. You dont? What I'm trying to say was that I was on the streets a lot of the time, and as we were stuck in traffic with nothing to do, it gave me more than enough time to stare at the skies, trees and buildings all around!

And as a result, I saw kites in the air, kites roosting on the cell station towers, kites sitting on water tanks, coconut trees and the advertising hoardings, you know I think I saw more kites than crows in Bangalore this time! Black kites, Brahminy kites and I think a black-shouldered one as well. I cursed since I had not taken my binocs (what kind of a bad birder am I?) and neither did I have a camera. I did have some silk sarees though, not that it helped.

So, why are there so many of these raptors in Baangalore? I wonder if it is to do with the stony nature of the terrain, lots of building activity, and vermin being displaced from their hidey holes. Or is it the garbage?

Its not only me, even the recent cricket match saw Spectators of a different kind

And Charlie, the better birder that he is, had his camera on the ready to click this feeding black kite

Shall pack that binocs the next time, I promise.

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?!

The majestic Crested Serpent Eagle

This was the sight that greeted our jalopy as we entered the Melghat forest at Pipalpadav one evening.  I think, for me this is the closest I have been to a raptor in the wild.  

The forest was quiet, resting in the afternoon heat, when Divya spied this lovely specimen on a branch to our left.  As we watched in silence, the eagle also sat in silence, ignoring us, and keeping a sharp look out for prey.

Sekar, clicked away and came up with these compositions in brown.  Trees, leaves, bird - almost a sepia print.  

Do click on the photo, to enjoy a full resolution view.  Only then will you see the crest, its hooked beak and the black bar across its tail - all distinguishing features for the Crested Serpent Eagle.  

In Melghat, we subsequently saw a lot of these raptors, circling above, sitting on trees, calling in the forest.

They are fond of well-watered country and also eat snakes, besides frogs, lizards and rats.

That was all we saw that evening.  Not one other creature moved in the forest.

That's the beauty of a jungle visit.  The jungle will reveal when she wants to.  You are unimportant.  A visitor.  

Be patient, enjoy the quiet and you may be privileged to see some small marvel.

When I return from these trips, I am always greeted by, "So what did you see?".  Its kind of difficult to explain that I enjoyed seeing the fallen leaves, the large anthills, the round river stones and the experience of not being "at home".  This is not my habitat anymore.  I am so far removed from it, I am a city person, sure to get lost on my own in the forest.

The dry and dusty teak forest of Melghat.  Initially my mind rebelled.  I want green, I want life, energy and vibrancy it said.  But after about three days, I think it did grow on me.  We learnt to cope with it, and recognise that in Nature there is summer - hot and dry and no running away from.  Life is not always about Spring.