PTJ redux

Beautiful capture of Jacanas with a new born chick by Mr Ramanan.  Mr Ramanan's photo essay from the 2017 breeding season is here.  

I went looking for them a few days later with Sheila, and while we did not see the eggs (they had probably all hatched), we saw what was in all likelihood, the third chick.

When we reached, we heard the male PTJ calling in agitation and looking eft and right.  It appeared that he was calling the chicks.  Initially, we saw a slightly larger chick, which subsequently we did not see at all.  (I have read that when they hear an alarm call from the parent, the chicks hide under a floating leaf.  I wonder if that is what it did!

We did spy a littler chick, unsteady on his feet, which seemed to follow the parent, and I marvelled at how they stayed afloat and knew instinctively that they had to put their feet on the leaves and not in the water.  All the time we were there, it was not fed by any parent, unlike other bird chicks, who are constantly crying for food.

The wetlands was filled with the calls of the jacanas, the honks of moorhens, interspersed with the impatient school bus and a motorcycle driving by.  

I was dismayed at the amount of construction that is going on in the marsh.

Its a completely bizarre and distressing site.  There are homes, apartments even, and raised roads, while all the empty plots are filled with water, reeds and remnants of marshland.  It seems insane to come and build here, and even more insane to buy and live here.

The moorhen walk - Photos by Mr Ramanan

A bird that I am guilty of ignoring in my search for the winter visitors, the moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a striking bird and an interesting one to observe, as it walks on lily pads and forages for food.

The adults get the red "cap".  And yes, both male and female are called moorhen!!

  

The Pheasant Tailed Jacanas of Pallikaranai

I remember when I first saw the Jacana walk on water (well almost), it just blew my mind, and I spent hours at Dungarpur just observing their spidery legs and jerky movements.  

The pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) is quite common in the wetlands of Chennai, and always make for interesting sightings as they dart on top of the floating vegetation.

Mr Ramanan is a regular Sunday visitor to the marshes of Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur and has documented their courtship and breeding over several years. The females are larger and more colourful than the male and are polyandrous.  it is the males that incubate the eggs!

Mr Ramanan notes, "In 2016 in the month of June I had come across two active nests of Pheasant Tailed Jacanas closer to the road side itself. The female is polyandrous and the male takes care of entire breeding of the chicks."

Mr Ramanan noted that the smaller male chased the female with which he had previously mated, 

went underneath the bird, pushed it from the squatting position.  it looked as if the male was suspicious of the female, and did not want another clutch of eggs of another male in its territory?

In another instant, Mr Ramanan observed the male take the chicks under its wing, when a predator was sighted.  The alarm call had been raised by the female.

This is the male's protection posture, with all the chicks underneath, looking like a single adult with eight legs!

Mr Ramanan captured this picture of the female's frightened posture, with body erect but tail down.  (And do see those claws!)

"Once the threat disappeared they started feeding as usual."

"The breeding plumages of the sickle shaped tail with predominant amount of chocolate-brown colour and in flight a large amount white, was observed from the month of May to June this year. On one occasion when the early morning sun rays peeped through the clouds, it painted the female Pheasant-Tailed Jacana with the golden touch of rays which really accentuated its silky golden coloured nape."

Mr Ramanan continued his watch of the PTJs through the summer of 2016 and 2017.  "The sign of chasing all other birds like white breasted water-hen and purple moorhen, from their territory in the month of July, indicated that it has already laid the eggs.  As expected the first chick emerged on the 4th of August, and were seen with the male Pheasant-Tailed Jacana which had shed the tail by that time. I was expecting for some more chicks on subsequent days but it was not to be and the male has only one chick as on 11th of August. On 9th of August again came across the protection display. This time just like last year the female raised the alarm call when a common kite hovered over it and the male with the feeble call attracted the chick and took it under its wings.   The female immediately hovered over and chased the Common Kite. It is clear from the above that female also played an active role while breeding in case of threat, apart from the role of guarding their territory."

Incubating male seen at Sholinganallur.

Notice the large brown eggs! PTJ females usually lay a clutch of four.

When a Shikra was sighted, the male PTJ aggressively left its clutch unguarded and chased the predator.

Returning after a successful chase!

With his keen eye, patience and regular documentation, Mr Ramanan has been able to put together an entire series on the breeding of the PTJs, which makes for a fascinating account.

The marshes and wetlands of Chennai - important and precious for so many creatures big and small.

TADOBA through the lens of Mr Ramanan

Mr Ramanan visited Tadoba in April this year, and the temperatures of 49 degrees Celsius thankfully did not affect his photography!  The TATR - Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve - is in the centre of India, in Maharashtra, and a reserve that I have not visited.

The forest awaited the monsoons, the teak trees were bare and all creatures big and small looked for shade.

This Brown fish owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) was spending its days in the shade, probably close to a water body.At night, it would be out to hunt.

Orange headed Rock Thrush on the dry teak leaves of the forest floor.  Tadoba is predominantly teak forests.  But is that a largestromia flower peeking at us?

A Crested Serpent Eagle surveys the forest floor for prey

Oriental Honey Buzzard - at the lake.  The sanctuary has the Andhari river running through it, and the Tadoba lake.  The lake is a great place for sightings.

Chousingha (Tetracerus quadricornis), a small four-horned antelope, solitary by nature, and whose numbers are dwindling, as forests have become isolated.  Tadoba is one the few refuges left for this herbivore. A dove walks by in the background.

A barking deer, moving close to a bamboo grove, probably looking for some shade. No antlers as yet for this one.

A massive gaur also at the watering hole.  Their numbers have swelled and they are now a common site in plantation towns in the hills.

The sloth bear on the other hand is an uncommon sighting in the wild   I have not seen one as yet.  Whenever I see pictures of them, I feel that they desperately need a grooming!

As Thyaga remarked, what is it that you didn't see, Mr Ramanan?!  The summer heat meant that all animals looked to minimise their movements.   In a way its arguably the best time to visit a sanctuary, if you are interested in sightings.  Physically uncomfortable, but great sightings!  I personally love to visit when forests are green, and so usually end up not seeing very much beyond the lovely magnificent trees.  The trees are wonderful in themselves, and I do not regret the lack of sightings.

There were a spate of killings by leopards of villagers around Tadoba in 2013, and there was a move to radio collar some of them.  This one obviously not one of them.  

And just when I thought, ok he did not spot a tiger, I saw these pictures!

A summer snooze for the top carnivore.

This is the cub of the tigress named Rani

There are a 100 + tigers in the 650 odd sq kms of the TATR.  Tadoba, Pench, Kanha... one contiguous forest not so long ago, but now islands separated by human habitation.

And as I write this, the forests have been further decimated as the Pench-Kanha corridor is witnessing the development of an elevated highway.  The elevated sections are supposed to mitigate the effect on wildlife by allowing them to cross underneath.

Is this realistic and what about the interim displacement and habitat loss?  Could not the highway skirt this corridor?

The comb duck at Sholinganallur

Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos).  Males have the "comb".

One of the largest of the duck species and seen if freshwater wetlands.

They are found in southern Africa and south Asia.  But not so often in Madras.

While I first saw them in significant numbers in Bharatpur and at Chilika, the 2017 bird race was the first time I saw them in my city.

All these beautiful pictures from Mr Ramanan, who visits the marshes almost every weekend!

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COMB DUCK AT SHOLINGANALLUR

I love this duck, and I am so excited overtime I see it.  I didn't see it this time, but Mr Ramanan did, at Sholinganallur.

Sarkidiornis melanotos - the beautiful wing colours catch the sun. Photo by Mr Ramanan

It's a large duck and shows up in our waters every other year. migrating down for the winter, and they look quite distinctive with their speckled heads and the 'comb' on the head of the male.

Photo by Mr Ramanan - the distinctive comb for the male

Photo by Mr Ramanan

I need to go and pay a visit to Sholinganallur, soon.

ZITTING CISTICOLA - AT SHOLINGANALLUR

More delightful pictures from Mr Ramanan

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INDIAN CORMORANT AT SHOLINGANALLUR

I have always struggled to differentiate the Indian Cormorant or Shag from the little cormorant. 

These wonderful pictures from Mr Ramanan helped me resolve the difficulties. 

Notice the blue eyes and the smaller head. And the picture below shows the white threat that's restricted to just below the gape. 

Notice also the long narrow bill, which is longer than that of the little cormorant. 

The large cormorant is a visibly bigger bird and with plumage that is more black than the mottled brown black of this one.

Sholinganallur through the lens of Mr Ramanan

Sholinganallur in southern Madras is home to wetlands that are an extension of Pallikaranai.  Now known more for being part of the IT corridor, the area is in urgent need of preserving of the remaining grasslands, scrub, water bodies and wetlands.

These are the soak pits and groundwater charging areas for the city and support an important ecosystem.  Here are a few glimpses of that.

A beautiful capture of the conical silver bill, black tail and white breast of the White Throated Munia (Euodice malabarica), by Mr Ramanan.  These birds move around in large flocks and feed on grass seeds found in scrub and grasslands.  They are found usually in the winter months in south India.

A Black Shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) stares menacingly, just before taking off on its hunt for mice.  Its feet are usually clutch the perch from opposite sides.  These smaller kites live on a diet of mice, and it is amazing to see them hover in the sky as they hunt for lunch, dropping silently and speedily onto their prey.  Photo by Mr Ramanan 

The streaked fantail warbler (Cisticola juncidis) displays its fantail.  I prefer to call them Zitting Cisticola which is apt, as their call is a "zit, zit", as they zip past from reed to reed.  They are easily hard, but difficult to spot through the binoculars as they are always on the move.  Photo by Mr Ramanan

In the lake, Mr Ramanan's lens captured a winter visitor, the black tailed godwit, (Limosa limosa) a large wader, with the characteristic pink bill with the black tip.  The bar-tailed goodwill is more streaked 

Meanwhile on the shores, Mr Ramanan finds the brilliant colours of a yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) in breeding plumage.  The wagtails, well, wag their tails quite incessantly and can be found on the dry periphery of lakes and other water bodies looking for insects.  This one seems to be a male with its olive upper parts.

Another species found in the dry scrub is the ashy-crowned sparrow-lark (Eremopterix griseus).  They look like sparrows.  This is a male with the well marked black collar, while the female is sandy brown.  They have an interesting courtship display with the male kind of shooting up vertically into the air, and then descending also with a whistle.  These are ground birds, foraging for seed and insect and also spending the night on the ground.  We need to leave enough undisturbed ground for these birds to survive and propagate.

The Common Flameback

Photo by Mr Ramanan - A STILL FROM 4K VIDEO-FZ300 + 1.7 TC=1020MM,ISO 125,F/2.8,-1/3 EV,AT 1/125 OF SECONDS

This Flameback (Dinopium javanense) was seen by Mr Ramanan outside his home.  What a beautiful capture of its moustachial stripe, the three toes, and its golden back!

For the last two months, there is one that visits the Terminalia catappa tree outside our bedroom window, and its rattling morning greeting unfailingly improves my mood.  

The tree is so thickly grown that most days I am unable to spot it, so I'm happy for this picture.

The Flameback has now replaced the White Breasted Kingfisher, who stopped visiting when the Millingtonia was uprooted in the storm a few monsoons ago.