Meet Marianne and Pyrene, two sunny beauties I saw for the first time at Bharatpur, and I had completely overlooked. Seeing the Blue Mormon at GNP last weekend, suddenly brought them back to mind, and I hunted through my 200-odd photos from Bharatpur.
And here they are! They love to sunbathe it seems, and that suited me fine, as I could get really close to them to take these shots. I was also double delighted as their common names actually were easy to remember. (I actually didn't write their names down and I still recalled them!) Pyrene here below is Yellow orange tip,
Arun of MNS "saw(and photographed) this female Barheaded Goose ( 2nd March, 2009 5.40 pm), in Koondhakulam (flock of about 120 birds). Contacted the concerned people and found out that -- it had been banded in Darkhad Valley of Northern Mongolia on 17th July 2008 by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Mongolia.... 5000 km journey"
Photo by Arun I saw these birds for the first time in January this year, when I travelled to Bharatpur, the bird sanctuary in north India. These geese are quite common in other countries I know, but for us they are definitely not-so-common.
I remember being amused at their honking and bossy ways in the marsh, as they quarreled with each other and waddled around in this most busy fashion! But to find them all the way down south! That's quite astonishing!
Koodankulam/Koondakulam, by the way is a sanctuary near Tirunelveli in southern-most Tamil Nadu. Its well known for a nuclear plant located there.
Look out for wild birds marked in Mongolia
The Wildlife Conservation Society exhorts us to look out for marked birds and report to them if you see any such birds banded either as a collar or on the leg.
As I saw this picture of them in flight, I wondered, were they looking to return to their summer homes?
Great work Arun! (Arun's a doc, by the way, no kidding, a medical doc. )
Update - 30th April, 2009
It seems to be the season to visit Koondakulam. Other MNS members, (maybe inspired by Arun?) also visited and came back with a gallery-ful of excellent shots and poses of water birds.
Skandan witnessed quite a flamingo performance, reminiscent of the Bolshoi ballet performances of old.
Skandan wrote in, "It ws a great birding trip for us as Mr Pal Pandiyan,the birdman of Koondakulam guided us perfectly to the right spots to have a closer look at many a species....
All the snaps are taken from very safe distance and the birds were not disturbed from their habitat at any point..."
March 15th, 2009 7:30 am, and a dozen of us awaited another walk through GNP with Bhanu. Strange, I thought, all my walks in this city sanctuary have been with Bhanu! She probably loves the place, and sees it as a great and easy way to sensitise people to nature, flora and fauna.
(Read about Bhanu and her puppetry here.) Why were we there? Well, MNS and Bhanu offered a kind of "train-the-trainer" weekend session, where we were expected to pick up skills and tips on how to spread the message among school children. So, on Saturday, she had taught us games, exercises, craft ideas and even puppet-making, all great tools to help reach out to children.
Poor Bhanu, I do not think she would have come across a more artistically-challenged "student" than yours truly! Defensively, I whined, "Bhanu, this is not my strength"! Well, to cut a long story short, I stuck my thumb in paint, used some sketch pens, cut paper furiously, looked uncomprehendingly as she demonstrated string art, and was pooped at the end of the day, with all this hard work!! All around me, the other ladies seemed to be coping much better than me, working faster and more skillfully!
So, it was that on Sunday morning we were to go on a nature trail. I looked forward in anticipation to a morning out among the trees. I even sacrificed my maternal desire to go to the station and pick up my teenage son, on the altar of my morning learnings!! (Well, I had not seen him for three days and four nights, you know.) Leaf galls
It was a cloudy, dull morning but the learning started almost immediately. Leaf galls, cotton stainer bugs and chitals in the distance as soon as we stepped in. Cotton stainer bug
Glycosmis cochinensis Tamarinds hung in bunches, as did antigonon flowers and Prosopsis pods. Actually it was quite a pod-filled morning - all shapes and sizes. Clausena dentata Cissus quadrangularis Siris treeMy favourite was this flowering Siris tree - looks like a white-flowered rain tree does it not? Albizia lebbeck, if you want to read up about it. Its got these pods that rattle in the wind, reportedly - we didn't hear them - it was not windy! Then there was this termite "road" that wound up a tree - why did the termites not use a short cut and go straight up rather than follow the path of the vine?
See the lichen on the bark - signs of low pollution levels. More pollution and the lichens disappear. So, GNP is not doing too badly I guess.
Jatropha shrubs, favoured by green link spidersA green lynx (or is it link) spider- Peucetia viridana- clambered up a Jatropha shrub. give that shrub a second look. Its native to Central America and has led to much excitement because its seed has some 40% oil, which reportedly is a good diesel substitute!!
I am imagining the day I go and fill the car with jatropha oil. And then, the waste leftover can make electricity too! A lot of uses for an unassuming looking shrub, isn't it?
I wonder what the implications on the soil are if its planted widely, though? The Indian Railways have already experimented using the oil in diesel mixtures for their diesel locos on some sectors.
Can you spot the bracket fungus growing out of this branch? Its pretty colourless and so difficult to spot.
What is the difference between mushrooms and fungi? I just learned that mushrooms are actually fungi!!
I just lost my appetite for them. Yuk, imagine I've been eating fungus all along!
Cassia auriculata flowerHere's another Cassia. This one's a shrub and not a tree. Cassia auriculata, evergreen and "gregarious", the GNP book says! See, now I even know a gregarious plant!
Carissa spinarum Here's another GNP regular - Carissa - probably quite tasty, since the black buck and chital reportedly browse on it, and it has edible fruits! Pity, there weren't any on it. But we saw a lot of the white flowers, tinged with a slight pink Morinda tinctoria barkThe Nona tree - Morinda tinctoria - the bark with personality, is another common tree of the area. Morinda tinctoria canopy Kiss & Hug?!I think this is a flowering wood apple tree. And this last one was very confusing - kiss and hug, kiss and kill, epiphyte or parasite, I need to get clarity on this! (Update: Check the comments - this is the Dodder or Cuscuta and yes, it is a parasite - so its probably a kiss and kill!)
Oh yes, the highlight definitely was that Blue Mormon seen above. It was HUGE, and it was blue and black. The light was poor, and that's all the colour that my camera got, sorry. It looks more white than blue in this!
This last month, I learnt something, which I wish I had not. Or rather, I wish was not true.
It all started with an excited email from one of the MNS members sharing a photo of the owl at Nanmangalam, and how there were two new chicks. Oh wow, I thought, thats so good, to know they are progressing nicely in our very own reserve forest.
However, there was a flurry of cautionary emails from more experienced members and they painted a rather ominous and gloomy picture.
Here's a gist of the quotes:-
On photographing of nesting Great Horned Owls in Nanmangalam RF: As naturalists I am sure you all would take care not to disturb the breeding birds. But we should also be aware that the people who use this RF for various purposes are also watching us. When they watch us photographing they would know the breeding birds’ location. Out of curiosity or for several other reasons they do go near the nest / disturb or injure the adult bird or the chicks…
Too much publicity could have adverse and unfortunate consequences. In the interest of the birds one should practice restraint both in photography and observation.
Isn't it better that we visit the place more often and more frequently, so that the RF becomes too "public" and too "visible" for anti-social elements? If we stay away, then we are allowing these anti-socials to "rule" the place.
…a greater presence of concerned (and genuine) birdwatchers could well be healthy for the place and the birds because this will eventually edge out the poachers and other elements. What is desirable here is the declaration of this area into a sanctuary (not just a Reserve which it already is. What is probably a better solution is what I have heard is already in the wind -- the creation of an eco-park at the site. An eco-park scores over a sanctuary in that it is easier to implement because it is public-friendly, something that appeals to any government, and at the same time affords full protection to the resident wildlife. A look at the Poonga will confirm this.
I agree with the note of caution expressed. There is illegal trade in owls in the country. A picture of the nest and details of its location are an open invitation to poachers. Moreover, any nest photography is now discouraged. If you see a nest, just look at it, be thankful that the birds are breeding and move away quietly.
I was really shocked at that last comment. Why would anyone covet an owl? And then this article was posted....
Are believed to bring riches, as Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth, rides on one
In South India, owls’ hoots are thought to predict fate – one signifying imminent death, two, imminent success, three, a marriage, etc.
Tantriks and rural medicine men prescribe: owl-eye broth for night-vision, owl claws as good luck charms, owl feathers to repel evil spirits, owl meat as aphrodisiac, owl torture for directions to hidden treasure.
Price they fetch: from Rs 5,000 up to Rs 8 lakh for Barn Owl or Great Horned Owl
Threatened species: Barn Owl, Eastern Grass Owl, Collared Scops Owl, Great Horned Owl (Eurasian Eagle Owl), Brown Fish Owl, Spotted Owlet, Jungle Owlet, Asian Barred Owlet
Most in demand: in Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP, MP, Orissa, West Bengal
Demon birds. Death-portending banshees. Soul-eaters. Owls attract foreboding and superstitious epithets as naturally and irresistibly as pandas attract fond baby-talk and tigers attract awestruck poetry. Their nocturnal nature, their devil-like horns, their sudden screeching from ancient tree-hollows in cemeteries, or the unnerving way they twist their heads around to fix you in a piercing, lidless stare -- all of these traits have long earned them spooky pride of place, along with the bat, in fearful folk tales and horror films. Now, they’re also earning them death sentences, thanks to tantriks and medicine men, who use them in black magic rituals and ‘miracle-cures’ for their gullible clientele.
Abrar Ahmed, consultant with Traffic, a body which monitors wildlife trade, has been tracking the owl trade for the past three years – more than a decade after he first stumbled on it while researching a countrywide report on the illegal bird trade. His research has taken him to desolate trappers’ houses along the tribal belt to village markets spanning all of north India, and the bird bazaars of bigger cities like Lucknow and Delhi. "There are 29 species of owls in India," says Ahmed. "Of these, half are used for some nefarious purpose or the other."
The most common purpose is witchcraft. As the vehicle of Goddess Lakshmi, the owl is associated with wealth. So, those hoping to strike it rich with the help of an occult boost visit tantriks around the festive season of Diwali and Durga Puja. The tantriks then conduct owl-sacrifices, anoint their customers with sacrificial owl blood and give them an owl-claw; guaranteed, they say, to act as a lightning rod for a massive fortune. This sounds like a gruesome, senseless activity, but it’s one that even educated, city-dwelling denizens of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Calcutta indulge in.
Industrialists, particularly in these bleak recession times, willingly fork out up to 8 lakh for a gold-and-grey Barn Owl or a Great Horned Owl (Eurasian Eagle Owl). Since these species are hard to find, trappers and middlemen often try to disguise the poor little Spotted Owlet as a juvenile Horned Owl by fashioning ear-tufts out of pasted feathers, and staining its eyes with toxic orange-coloured ink.
Village haats and small-town markets abound in luridly illustrated black magic booklets that advocate owl-bone amulets as charms, owl-eye broth for improving night-vision, owl-meat for rheumatism, seizures, and as an aphrodisiac. "We’ve come across some stomach-turning recipes," says Samir Sinha, Head of Traffic, "Concoctions with owls’ ear-tufts, brains and eyes, to hypnotise someone and make them a slave for life." Some booklets also recommend that owls – when tortured or starved – will be persuaded to reveal, in a human voice, the locations of hidden treasure.
As Sinha ruefully observes, "There’s no end to human stupidity or faith, and there’s a thin line between the two!" Bird-baiting is another market force that drives the owl-trade, though to a significantly smaller extent.
Owls – particularly the Spotted Owlet and Jungle Owlet – serve as decoys for bird trappers trying to catch bulbuls and sunbirds for the pet trade. Trappers use the owlets as conspicuous bait, and have cruel means of keeping them stationary, such as stitching their eyes closed and forcefeeding them enormous quantities of mice so that they become sluggish . Owls are also used in street performances, ‘blessing’ amulets for onlookers to purchase. Some adivasi folk, such as the Bahelias and Chirimars of Central India, even eat the white-faced Grass Owl for the stringy, meagre sustenance it offers them.
Word of the growing demand for owls and the astronomical prices they can fetch has made its way down south. Trappers are descending into forests and grasslands, and coming out with sackfuls of Great Horned Owls, Barn Owls and Scops Owls. These are among the six species of owls that are being trafficked to the north, according to recent reports from Kerala. Trappers have set to work in Chennai too. Recently, a group of naturalists dismantled traps around nesting sites of the Great Horned Owl in a rocky outcrop in the outskirts of the city.
While the scale of the owl-trade may be negligible compared to the trade in popular ‘ornamental’ parakeets or munias, the immediate ecological impact is far graver. As predators, owls are highly effective pest-control agents. A single Horned Owl snacks on at least three large, plump rats per day.So, when the owl population decreases, the rodent population increases exponentially, laying waste to crops. That’s why forest officials in Kerala have noticed an increasingly flourishing rodent population in the state. Farmers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have taken to putting up attractive perches to lure owls to dine on the pests ravaging their fields.
In South Indian cities, however, owls are not made to feel quite as welcome, mostly due to prevalent superstitious beliefs, such as one that holds that a single owl hoot is an omen of imminent death. Says Chennai-based naturalist Anantanarayan Rajaram: "Tenants who share my flat complex want strong lights to be installed on the roof to ward off the Barn Owls that seek shelter there, because they consider all owls to be harbingers of evil." Kerala city dwellers tend to be equally hostile, he adds. "There, the Brown Wood Owl is held in fear for its call: ‘powwa powwa’, which means "Going, going", and signifies that a person around the area will die soon."
Sadly, at the rate at which owls are getting decimated, the next dolorous ‘to-whoot’ you hear may well be signalling its own end.
Do see the original article, there are some pitiful pictures of owls trapped, with ink-stained eyes, and God knows what else.
With due apologies to Ranjit Lal, who in his delightful "Crow Chronicles", named the soulful singer of Bharatpur thus. I was given the book by Chitra before departing for Bharatpur, but my son wanted first dibs, and so I read it (actually am still enjoying it) on my return.
For anyone who has been to Bharatpur, the book is a must-read, as all the birds of Bharatpur are characters in a fast-paced adventure set in the sanctuary. The characterisation is delightful, with the main protagaist being His Excellency Shri Khatarnak Kala Kaloota Kawa Kaw Kaw aka Kaw the crow!
I digress though. This post is about that perky, jaunty little black-and-white bird that you cannot fail to see in Bharatpur, with its upright tail and its sad song. Mr Robin, with his tail up
They sat on tree stubs, hopped on the path, flitted about the central camp area, where we would gather for chai and biscuits...we would see them early morning, in the midday, and towards sunset as well.
Somehow, I always saw the bird alone. I wonder if thats its habit, solitary.
We all got pictures of this little bird, because it did not seem shy of humans, and was quite happy to pose. Carthic took this
While the bird itself was busy, cheerful and jaunty its song I felt was somewhat plaintive. Hear it for yourself, and tell me what you think. This is the song that we would typically hear late in the evening, say at sunset. I took this little video clip as a memory of the song, so dont expect to see the bird in great detail...its there though, that little shadow flicking its tail!
I also learnt that a bird call is different from a bird song. And magpie robins have an enormous range of calls and some songs as well.
Song performance rules in the Oriental Magpie Robin, is the title of a research study done on these birds in Nepal. The researchers studied the dawn-singing of around five Oriental Magpie Robins, and found that the songsters were quite original in their tunes! They switched songs/motifs, interacted and communicated through these songs, and in general kept Messrs Bhattacharya, Cirillo, Subba and Todt busy and fascinated!!
Birdsong is a learned behaviour, so that would mean that the Magpie-robins of Bharatpur would probably sing differently from their counterparts in Nepal! Well, why am I surprised - an Indian from Kochi speaks differently from her counterpart in Madras, doesnt she? We just assume that this is not true in the non-human world, dont we?
I wish I had known this before going to Bharatpur....I would have listened more carefully to the singing of these lovely, musical little songbirds, and maybe come back wit memories of different songs! For now, though, I only have this one tune associated with the robins.
(If you want read more about Bharatpur, or go to the beginning of this serialised narration, click here.)
Ixias pyrene
Ixias marianne
Photo by Arun
Photo by Arun
Blue Mormon
Mean-looking thorns!
Leaf galls
Cotton stainer bug
Tamarinds hang in bunches
Spot the chital
Glycosmis cochinensis
Clausena dentata
Cissus quadrangularis
Siris tree
Jatropha shrubs, favoured by green link spiders
Bracket fungus
Cassia auriculata flower
Cassia auriculata pods
Carissa spinarum
Morinda tinctoria bark
Morinda tinctoria canopy
Kiss & Hug?!
Mrs Robin at the campsite
Mr Robin, with his tail up
Carthic took this
Mr Ramanan found this lady on his bicycle!
And this young man peered inquisitively at Mr Ramanan
