Day 9 - My first glimpse of Maya the Shaheen this year

 July 6th 2025

Our MRC Nagar Shaheen falcon - christened Maya - arrived this year on 30th May 2025, two days after I left the city for a stint in Bangalore.  

MRC Nagar's Leela business centre building may be abandoned and unoccupied by humans, but for the birders of the city, it is a very happening building - 

Vismaya the peregrine is a resident in the winter.

Maya the Shaheen is here through the SW monsoon.  This is the sixth monsoon she has been sighted.  From 2020 onwards.

Arrival dates: (Courtesy Sanjeev)

26th June 2020
31st May 2021 
2nd June 2022 
25th June 2023
9th June 2024

30th May 2025

She comes in with the monsoon winds, and every year we watch her movements - her hunts, preening, her ramp walks on the balustrade.  We provide much curiosity and amusement to the citizens of MRC Nagar who are bemused at our fascination with a bird.

She's the bird with the fastest dive. Falcons are awesome.  As GK, our Raptor Guru says, "It's a Shaheen female based on the longer  moustachial stripe & the overall build.  Shaheen Tiercels are quite compact & small, with a short broad moustachial stripe.

And we assume it's Maya based on the perches she take, her routine, all that. If another female reaches here & follows all that of Maya, it's practically not possible to find out unless they're a permanent visible clues in non-feathered parts."

I have recorded seeing her on 16th June 2024, both in the morning and in the evening on eBird.

Morning 6am was with Sagarika, Ramanan and his son.

6.05 - No bird on usual perch from the Leela viewing point
6. 35 - A black kite flew close, pigeons were disturbed 
7.05 - We walked towards the police tower, saw her taking a dive and returning to perch away from us, Northern side, then moved towards North West and moved southeast before flying towards Leela at 7.29 am. It was not well settled and kept moving its head.
724 - Wing Stretching
729 took off toward the East
742- Not seen in the usual place, but corner ledge, facing Jains.
8.00 - Wing stretched and flew towards Jain making 2 circles
803 - Back without kill, perched on window rail, finally seen facing towards the glass. Looking at own reflection perhaps

Pictures in the ebird list here.

Evening 530 pm ebird list

She did a spectacular aerial display of diving, gliding and soaring over the Business Tower.

Circling the Leela building.
535 pm - circled and chased a pigeon - failed hunt.  
flew around the roost area and then a little south, then circled back and was seen over the main Lee hotel for a long time.  
No successful hunt observed.

June 15th 2025 pictures from Hrishu.  I was not there.

Photo by Hrishu.  Falco peregrinus peregrinator

Photo by Hrishu. Falco peregrinus peregrinator

I finally got a live Darshan this morning!  Thanks to Hrishu and Aaditya's message that she was sighted.

See that little black blob on the railing?  Well that is the falcon who has turned her back on us.

 Here's the Ebird list for the morning, from Hrishu.

Hopefully, I will see her more regularly in the coming weeks.

Vismaya - the Peregrine of MRC Nagar

Vismaya - so named by Sanjeev - a Peregrine Falcon whom he had day-to-day eyes on; Vismaya, who came when Maya the Shaheen left, or so it seemed.

10th April sightings

Vismaya - Falco peregrinus peregrinus,

Let me tell you about her, why the fuss.

CSK bus below

Bedecked in yellow

And most miss this raptor in plain sight, thus.

Off to the marsh at dusk and dawn

From this perch, she will be gone

Pigeon  stunned

with fist, not gun

Cleaned and eaten on the adjacent pylon.

A Chennai Life lived in solitude

Not even the crow dare intrude

Back north for the summer

She may meet a Tiercel partner

And hopefully eyases, they will together brood.

We wish you safe travels up north

And hope you come back, as you go forth

Maybe next time as a pair?

Chennai does treat you so fair

with enough prey through our winter for you both!

 

Andamans Day 6 - The Black Baza of Kalatang and the history of names

 Continued from here.

Feb 15th 2024

We were blessed with another Andaman sunrise as we set off to revisit Kalatang.  Wherever you go, you are never far from a sunrise or sunset - the daily joy of an Island life.

As we waited for the ferry, this signboard caught my eye.

The name-changing of some of the Islands. 

In Jan 2023, 21 islands were renamed after Param Vir Chakras.  A few years earlier there was renaming of the more popular islands -  Ross Island has become Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Havelock and Neil Islands have become Swaraj and Shaheed Islands.  From what I can make out, the Islanders are confused and continue to use the old names.

As I sat in the car, I mulled over the name changes, who were the original inhabitants? Should we not acknowledge them in some way.  Even the place names on the islands reflect the  settlers's history/arrival.  

Can we acknowledge the original human and non-human inhabitants?

I wished one island was named for the White-Bellied Sea Eagle - such an iconic species in the islands. One for the Saltwater crocodile and another for those Sea Mahua trees, and maybe Yadita island as well- the Andamanese word for sea turtles.  Names - they enter our imagination, keep us connected to the origins of the place, make us curious about the history and most importantly acknowledge and include the "other".  

I found this about "Baratang" - 

Baratang Island separated from South Andaman Island by the Amitla Boicha passage and Middle Andaman by Homfrays Strait was exclusively the territory of the Aka-Pucikwar. In the Andaman Islands, Baratang is the only island to retain its name to the present day since the earliest times. Gerini (1909), in his study of Ptolemaic geography refers to Baratang as one of the islands named as such since the travels of both Ptolemy and Ibn Batuta. The island, earlier known to be inhabited by the Aka-Bojigyab- Da (Pucikwar) or speakers of the original language, also has patches of land exclusively vegetated by the Talipot Palm, (C. Umbraculifera Linn) called ‘Barata’ by the Andamanese. The palm assumes immense significance in Andamanese mythological beliefs as the plant is related to the evolution of the earth and human life (Radcliffe-Brown 1922: 171).

(Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier, A dossier prepared by Kalpavriksh.  Edited by Pankaj Sekhsaria and Vishvajit Pandya)

Talipot Palm!!  I did not notice a single one while on the islands, and I see none on iNaturalists either, so where are these palms now?  Extinct?

Pg 23 from Yuvan's Intertidal - lists some vocabulary of the Nicobarese.  "Ank" - the call of the WBSE!

We caught the ferry and reached the Kalatang (Wonder what that name means!) forest road.  

Andaman Green Imperial Pigeons greeted us.  Long Tailed Parakeets sat on the tallest branches.  Black Naped Orioles called to each other and flew from branch to branch.  Starlings sat preening in groups as well.

An Andaman Cuckoo Dove (Macropygia rufipennis) perched taking in the morning sun, its tail feathers prominent as it had lifted its wings.  We usually spotted these birds high in the canopy.  I loved the barred rufous markings on its neck and chest.  

A pair of Greater Racket Tailed Drongos swung on a liana.

But the morning belonged to the pair of Black Bazas, as they flew from branch to branch in the lower canopy, sometimes hidden, sometimes out in the open.  

That distinctive crest
oh so close
calligraphy strokes
Black and white

The Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) is an oh so small and elegant raptor.  I wonder why its called a bird of prey - seems to feed on insects, as do many non-bird of prey.

What a gorgeous bird isn't it?  When it sat showing the chest, there was a completely different look to it.  Like as if dressed in a three piece suit, with an inner chestnut waistcoat, with the white shirt seen, under the black coat!

We wandered down the path some more.  I saw a cat, Andaman bulbuls and woodpeckers, flies on dung, and even some termites crossing.     

We had breakfast, meandered a bit more, I saw Grey Pansies and even a Southern Birdwing!

Then, we headed back, missing the 930 return ferry to Chatham saw mill, and so our driver took us by the land route instead of waiting for the next ferry, and so we saw some of the wetlands on the way, and spied Cotton Pygmy geese, Egrets,  circling WBSE and more.

It was back to Rainbird hotel for lunch and a chota snooze.  After lunch, the others went off to Ograbaj again.

Sekar and I decided to explore the museum down the road.

The Samudrika museum details are here.

The E-bird checklist for the day is here.

Peregrine hunting along OMR - eBird Trip Report

26th Nov '23

Peregrine hunting along OMR - eBird Trip Report

What an interesting morning with Ramraj, Anitha and Sagarika.  Pictures here.  

Three Peregrines, 

on three towers, 

up high 

in very urban locations.  

We craned our necks,

Peered through our binoculars 

and yes there they were!

Ferrari Falcons

sitting motionless

on nondescript ledges.  Noiseless

Pigeons and parakeets

which one would it be today, 

at the end of that famous dive

would breakfast be green or grey?

*****

An Osprey and a Black Shouldered Kite 

We saw them too.

And those fabulous Blue Tailed Bee Eaters 

Shimmering in the sun.

Green marsh.  Sky so blue.

The waders (Ruffs most likely)  - a large flypast

Probably even more skittery 

because of the soaring Osprey.

*******

27th Oct '23

An odd looking shadow on the Leela Business Towers had me scurrying for the binoculars at MRC Nagar.  

Even through those dimmed, old lenses I could see that it was no crow, no pigeon, but a falcon.

It sat motionless in that pose, from 130 in the afternoon, until 6 in the evening.  I wondered why this peculiar and precarious position at the edge?  She preened, cleaned her talons and feathers, but did not move an inch.

.

Sanjeev hurried down and took this picture - yes Peregrines get that kind of attention.

At 605pm Vismaya (as she has been named) , took off, circled the building and flew off south.

Oct 31st - seen again by Sekar, while I was away at Bangalore.  Same perch, same position.   

And then the rains came and Deepavali came...and we have not seen it on this side of the building since.

I loved this description - Fantastic Falcons: Streamlined, Superfast Raptors in Many Avatars by Ranjit Lal

The peregrine is a cosmopolitan hunter — even found nesting on skyscraper ledges in New York City and other metropolises, from which vantage point it picks up pigeons. The shaheen has been observed doing the same in Mumbai. Having selected a victim, the peregrine, with its fastback wings gives swift chase, with the pigeon twisting and turning to avoid being caught. If the falcon fails to capture its prey, it will rise to its “pitch” (the highest point) and then fold its wings to its side and whistle down like a missile straight at its victim in a “stoop” or high-speed dive. The fastest stoop has been clocked at 390 kmph, faster than most Formula 1 racing cars, which peak at around 320 kmph. A special membrane protects its eyes from the rush of air, and the bird will often dive beneath its victim and then rise up and grasp it in its talons. Or it simply attacks from behind, the force of the impact often killing the bird mid-air. Watching a peregrine stoop is a never-to-be-forgotten experience. This guided missile of a bird was once in serious trouble in the West when the rampant use of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides caused their numbers to plummet. Thanks to conservation efforts, the birds seem safe for now.

MRC Nagar unknowingly plays host to both - the Shaheen and the Peregrine!

Next goal is to somehow catch it at its hunt

eBird India Checklist - 30 Jul 2023 - Shaheen Falcon - Viewing Point [Leela Palace IT Building West Facing] - 10 species

eBird India Checklist - 30 Jul 2023 - Shaheen Falcon - Viewing Point [Leela Palace IT Building West Facing] - 10 species

GK's observations

Quite a productive day to observe every behavior of a Shaheen falcon in detail. 

6:20AM: (ROUSING) When I had reached, the Falcon was perched in the right most edge of the Leela building at the top deck. Falcon was quite relaxed and preening, occasionally looking towards the Jains apartment/Somerset building. It once did a rouse, with raised feathers followed by a quick shake to dust of loose feathers and a poop. Falcon wasn't showing any signs of an hunt this day. 

6:25AM: (SOARING, PURSUIT ATTACK & FLAPPING FLIGHT) Falcon took off from the perch, did a short soar between Leela & Jains apartment. This made the Pigeons perched in the Jains apartment fly west. During the second half circle towards Leela, its flight pattern changed from soaring to active flight, with deep wing beats and flew steadily towards Jains apartment, a pursuit attack for sure. Vanished from the view for 5 seconds and returned through the same path with Pigeon in the talons, must have picked in between Jains & Somerset. Flew straight to the base of its favorite pillar perch. 

6:27AM: (NECK SEVERE) Usually the prey get killed when the Falcon landed on its perch, but today as soon as the Falcon landed all of a sudden the Pigeon started flapping heavily which startled the falcon for a few seconds. It took a well over 5 seconds to gain control of the Pigeon and the falcon hoped twice heavily holding the prey by its neck, followed by severing the neck with its bill. 

6:30AM: (PLUCKING & FEEDING) Falcon started to prepare its meal, defeathering the neck feathers of the pigeon and nibbled small bits of flesh with strong pulls. After 5 mins of feeding, Falcon moved the kill towards the corner closer to the pillar and started defeather again, now bigger chunk of long feathers flying off in the wind clearly indicating those are the flight feathers of the prey. Feeding continued for next 10 mins with 20-30 seconds pause to gaze around its environ. 

6:45AM: (GRIFFON POSE, CACK & WAIL VOCALIZATION) Couple of Black Kites appeared over Leela and one of them sighted the Falcon with its prey. As soon as the Kites started soaring over the side of the Falcon, it turned over to the ridge side and moved to more an horizontal posture, started giving loud "cack" calls. One of the Black Kites, flew quite close to the Falcon's ridge as if it tried to snatch the kill. The Kite then flew right over the Falcon's head, dive bombed in an attempt to make the Falcon fly with the kill or abandon the kill. Now the Falcon transformed into "Griffon" posture, with its back feathers roused + half open wings in mantling posture + well spread tail + open bill and started giving loud "agonistic wail" calls. Its call reverberated the entire open area below the Leela building. After a couple of attempts, the Black Kite moved SW towards the estuary. Feeding resumed only 5 minutes after the Kites had vanished. 

6:55AM: (TOMIAL TOOTH) 3 more Black Kites appeared over Leela, 2 flew south and one happened to see the Falcon. This time few "cack" calls from the Falcon were enough to deter the kite away and the feeding continued. Now the Falcon had moved closer to the edge of the pillar facing West which gave good views of the feeding. The pigeon now was held to lie on its back and the Falcon fed from the flanks as the feet of the pigeon was clearly visible. The Falcon nibbled the flesh at first, then held a good chunk with its bill followed by a tilting of its head on both the sides to rip of flesh from the bones. The tomial tooth must be of great help here to tear small pieces of flesh from the pigeon.

7:10AM: (GUT ELIMINATION) Feeding continued with big chucks of flesh been gulped by the Falcon. The intestines/gut are pulled out carefully and been set aside, not eaten. One of the Pigeon's feet along with the tibia portion been detached and swallowed whole after about 1 minute of struggle to push the entire piece in. Few small pieces of flesh & feathers struck to the Falcon's head & bill were carefully removed by a head-rub over its shoulder feathers. 

7:20AM: (CACHING, SCRATCHING & FEET NIBBLE) Feeding came to a pause now. Falcon picked the remaining (around 30%) kill in its beak, carried it closer to the wall of the pillar and dropped it there, cached it for later. Did a short hop to come back to the edge of the pillar base now. Feet nibbling continued for about 2-3 mins accompanied with some scratching of the bill with its front facing talons. Then and there the Falcon will look at its feet, gaze around the habitat for a few seconds and once again relook at its feet. This behavior continued for quite some time until it walked along the ridge of the pillar for a few feet and settled facing the wall. 

7:30AM: (RESTING) Falcon moved to the left side of the Pillar base, started resting and gazed around looking at the flying Crows and Pigeons. Couple of Rose-ringed Parakeets ignored the presence of the Falcon and landed few metres below the pillar investigating the crack in the wall. 

7:35AM: (AGONISTIC CALLING & TERRITORIALITY) Two Black Kites flew in to the Leela building's terrace where the House Crows interrupted them and started mobbing them at all sides. Falcon now turned away from the wall, started giving the "cack" calls looking up. When one of the Kites came closer to the pillar Falcon took off, made a quick climb and started mobbing the Kite. As the Falcon started to circle around the open ground next to Leela, "cack" calls continued with the Falcon trying to soar over the Black Kite. When the second Black Kite too moved towards the Leela west side, Falcon moved towards NW and didn't return. 5 mins post the Falcon had vanished, House Crows appeared next to the pillar base and took possession of the remains of the Pigeon cache.

******

My learnings

Tomial tooth?:  A protrusion that is quite sharp on the upper mandible outer edge - used to kill their prey and I guess also eat.

Raptor rumbles in the marshes

 24th October - Deepavali special - courtesy Umesh

Here is the story in his own words - 

"Did some quick site-hopping birding today with Abhishek, Vijay & Shobha, touching Kelambakkam/Muthukadu/Perumbakkam/Karapakkam. 

Kelambakkam - Peregrine seen first on its usual pylon...

... and in flight.

The GSE (Greater Spotted Eagle) minding its own business and seated on the pillar.

The GSE was perched on the pillar, and we watched and photographed it for sometime.   

And the Osprey sat, quite far away, on another pylon.

And then, we also witnessed some real drama:  Suddenly the Osprey took off and headed straight for the GSE,  seemingly for no reason!  

The osprey decided to knock the GSE off its perch and chase it around a bit. It initially seemed like they were both going for some common prey, but then it turned out that the GSE also did not actually have any catch. So not sure why the Osprey charged the GSE. But it was fabulous to watch!

After the "encounter", the Osprey landed on this perch.

Afterwards, the GSE went and sat down on the ground, and this Osprey went and once again roused it from there also!  See the video below.

Highlights of the morning: 1 Peregrine, 1 Osprey, 2 GSEs (or maybe it was the same one bird seen twice, at Perumbakkam and Karapakkam)

Oh yes, and we also saw one Grey-headed lapwing."

Umesh, so glad you saw all this and managed those dramatic photos, so you could share it with us!

Assam Day 5 - Seeking the dolphins, encountering the Osprey - the gigantic Brahmaputra

 Continued from here.

15th Jan 2020

On to Kaziranga, from Mangaldoi, today.  But first, we were to stop at the Brahmaputra and take in a river cruise as we searched for the Gangetic dolphins.

We were headed west, staying north of the Bramhaputra, a 3 hour journey.

We stayed on NH15 for the most part, the highway was in good shape.  As we reached Tezpur, there was more military presence and large, walled military compounds.  I learnt that Tezpur is one of the old cities of Assam, and there is a lot to see here, but we were not stopping.  The British made it into an army Headquarters for the region.  

Aparna wrote this in our trip report:

The place Tezpur was named for the rivulets of blood that flowed there. Legend has it that this was the place where the war between Banasura, who was King of the area, and Krishna took place. Banasura’s daughter, Usha, dreamt of Anirudh, the grandson of Krishna. Her friend Chitralekha drew his portrait and through her magical powers brought him to Usha. Banasura refused to give his consent for the marriage. That is when Krishna went to war. The war was actually fought between Shiva and Krishna as Banasura was a devotee of Shiva. And much blood was shed.  It is said that Brahma had to intervene to stop the fight. However Shiva gave in to the reason of Krishna and relented.  

We drove on to the river bank, close to the Kalia Bhamora bridge that spans the river over here.  

We walked across the fine river sand to the boats with colourful canopies.  It was close to 11am and the sun was blazing through, but the river was a vast expanse of a still dull, muddy colour.  To me, at that moment it felt like this large, silent, somewhat sullen, sleeping beast.  The currents were strong but one wouldn't guess it, due to the vastness of the river.

As we chose our boats, there was a sudden commotion, with everyone telling Shuba not to move.  She was startled but complied to the urgent orders.  On her ghamsa-covered head was what looked like a little colourful brooch! 

The butterfly brooch - Delias descombesi, the redspot Jezebel

Chinese fishing nets.  I read somewhere that the river supports some 222 species of fish! Tezpur is one of the important fishing centres on the river.  But the fish population is greatly depleted, due to human activity (of course, what else).

I think Pranjal mentioned Grey throated Sand Martins flitting along the river banks - but I did not see them (as usual).  

On returning, I did some reading on the sedimentation and turbidity of the river.  A 2017 NDTV article mentioned that the turbidity measure at Tezpur was 195 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit), as against a permissive level of NTU5!  Aparna, who collects river waters, dipped a bottle in, and I was quite surprised - the water was clear, not turgid as I expected. The heavy sedimentation adversely affects fish life as also the Gangetic Dolphin, that we were out looking for.

That's us - adding colour to the river.  Picture by R Shantharam

The Brahmaputra river system is one of those huge carriers of sediment, and this sediment forms sand banks and islands - chapori - which can support a lot of bird life.  

You could also get small grassy islands in the middle - so vast is the river.

The Gangetic Dolphin (Platanista gangetica)

Several of our group had already gone on this boat ride on their last trip to Arunachal and they asked us to keep our eyes peeled.  We were warned that it would not be like some NatGeo movie where it would gently, gracefully and in slow motion arc out of the water and show itself to you. It will be in and out in the blink of an eye. A grey shadow in the water. And that's exactly what it was. 

We had a lot of these fleeting 'darshans' of the greyish brown snouts of these endemic, poor eyesight river Dolphins, which are highly ecologically stressed. They are on the IUCN red list

We were in two boats with a canopy that shaded us from the sun.  The boat engines created a hell of a racket, and he would cut the engines every now and then, and we would drift. Those were the best moments. The river was a dull grey brown and placid.  The whole scene was tinged in grey and brown.

They spend an average 107.3 seconds under water and 1.26 seconds above water. Once, the most commonly sighted aquatic mega-fauna in the Brahmaputra river system, it now faces extirpation from most of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra and restricted to a few pockets in the mainstream.

Unregulated rise in human activities is causing serious degradation in dolphin habitats in the Brahmaputra. Acoustic vision being the primary mode of perceiving the environment for these animals, increasing noise levels and industrial activities cause major disruption in their perception of biologically critical sounds.

Scientists find conservation efforts of river dolphins in the Brahmaputra have largely ignored the aspect of Acoustic Habitat Degradation.

2019 North East Now

I didnt realise - dams on the river have isolated dolphin populations.  There are supposedly more than 50(!!) dams of different sizes on the Brahmaputra, fragmenting these populations, making them in-breed, disturbing the availability of their food.  So, not only on land are forests being isolated, but even in the water.  

The Osprey encounter

What I managed to photograph...

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) - have seen them before, but this was a thrilling experience to see this one so close, and then take off and glide lazily through the sky.  Pranjal had said that we would most probably see one of these fish eating raptors over the waters, and yes his prediction was right.  

.

Photo by Elumalai - as it sat, an emperor of all it surveyed, or a masked bandit?  The Osprey is supposed to be the only raptor with all toes being equal in size.  interesting, did not know this.  Does that make a difference in how it perches?

Photo by Elumalai - All set to take off, possibly disturbed by our outboard motor.  Rounded talons and a reversible outer toe means that it can catch those slippery fish with two toes in front and two behind.  

Photo by Venkatesh, as it took to the air, showing us the "fingers" on its wing feathers, and its spread out short tail.

Photo by Venkatesh - the white breast and the golden brown upper wings - what a magnificent sight it was!

Photo by Venkatesh - we gawked at the wingspan - a good 4-5 feet, as it flapped them in slow succession  and moved away from us.

This photo by Suresh - of the brown upper parts and those four long finger-like feathers, with the fifth being a bit shorter.  The drooping hands are a characteristic flight posture of this piscetarean.

We chugged along back now under the bridge and what seems like the new Brahmaputra bridge coming up alongside.

Mountains of concrete, as Man looks to overcome natural "obstacles"?

Add caption

Do we need another?

Off the boat, and we found little "loo huts".  

A group picture and some tea and potato biscuits, before we set off for lunch and then Kaziranga.

Very tasty!  A new discovery.  Potato "biscuits".  They were so yummy, I brought a couple of packets back home.

Tree sparrows

A reminder of what was going on in the country.

We were coming across to the southern bank of the mighty river, and turning east, to Kaziranga.