Lessons from the wilderness

KP Krishnan. www.lenscape.in

It is indeed very satisfying to be absorbed into the stillness of the woods, and see the world we share from the eyes of the species we share our ecosystem with. My photographic hobby coupled with some basic understanding of the birds and mammals habitats have lead to me travel across the country. The lessons that nature teaches us are immense and time tested. The struggles and successes are the same with the birds, mammals, reptiles, insects et al. as much as we have or more. Its just that we are caught up in the milieu of our day-to-day struggles that we do not open up to the world of nature that lies in front of us. The scene I witnessed recently at Tal Chhapar was intriguing; action packed and taught that the birds and reptiles too have to deal with Skill, Power, Opportunists and above all life and how to deal with it. Yet they have found a way to be happy.

Common buzzard with its hunt. The Spin Tailed Lizard

Read on.

The Tawny E

agle

Location: Tal Chhapar Blackbuck reserve, Rajasthan, India

Common Buzzard The Hunter (Skill)

Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) is a large bird of prey whose range covers most of Europe and extends into Asia and mostly a resident bird. In the hierarchy of Raptors (Birds of Prey) buzzards would be in the top three after the eagles and Falcons. Buzzards are strong hunters with impeccable eyesight and maneuvering abilities. They do not scavenge and hence hunt and consume their kill.

Common Buzzard holds its prey

We witnessed the Common Buzzard perching on the open ground which is its normal behavior but was still even after it saw us. Intrigued, we noticed and we saw the talons holding a medium sized Lizard it had just hunted the lizard

Spiny Tailed Lizard The Prey

Spiny Tailed Lizard (uromastix hardwicki) is an herbivorous agamid lizard. Patchily distributed across the northern and western parts of India. These lizards not only attract raptors but also fellow humans, as the fat extracted from it is an aphrodisiac. It is locally called as Sanda

The Hunter sees danger

While the buzzard was trying to hold the lizard by its talons and choke him to death, we saw some variations in its behavior as he was dunking to see some activity above him and we too were forced to follow his eye. What we saw was a Tawny Eagle hovering above the location where we were and we couldnt hold on to see what will happen now.

The hunter has to decide Skill or Power

The hunter now has to decide to feast its valuable hunt. Or leave it behind for his bigger cousin who can with his might get the prey with a fight. It is important to understand a key habitat. Since, Buzzards do not scavenge or steal food, they are very careful of their feathers as that gives them the advantage of a prolific hunter. A fight for prey with a bigger bird may result in the buzzard losing its feathers.,limiting their flying and hunting abilities. So it is natural that they avoid a fight.

The Hunter decides to lift with the prey. Albeit

This buzzard tries to swiftly lift with the prey but the fear of power in its mind loosens the grip of its talons, leaving the prey to ground.

The Tawny Eagle Power personified

The Tawny Eagle (Aquila Rapax) is a strong and big bird of the eagle family. Tawnies soar high and prey on reptiles, small mammals and Birds. They do steal food from other raptors. Tawny eagles have impeccable vision; they can zoom in and out with a range of 3km to microscopic in a fraction of a second.

Tawny Grabs the prey

The Tawny who was soaring above us landed swiftly and silently no wings flutter and grabbed the lizard, which was trying to breathe after being under the talons of the buzzard. The Talons of the bigger Tawny is no match for it to breathe easy but what happened next was interesting.

Power meets an opportunist

The Tawny was swift to find a naked branch and perched up with the prey to decide on the next course of action. Soon comes and sits on the opposite branch was a Common House Crow (Courvus Splendens). The Sight was so interesting that a strong hunter gave his hunt at the sight of this eagle, but this highly opportunistic, omnivorous bird was meeting the powerful Tawny eye-to-eye. What happened next?

Tawny thinks, the Crow decides

While the Tawny thinks on the next steps, the crow out there gives a clean look at the possibilities of getting a nice share form this kill without a fight and decides to fly from that perch, only to sit below.

The Tawny Act begins

The interesting and key highlight of the evening was the act of planning and execution of the Tawny. These birds at this time of the year would have just had nestlings and are in need of more food than ever. The Tawny displayed its Crop (the hump behind its neck) where it stores food for its nestlings, as you can see the crop was full and the Tawny was trying to check if it could take more without losing balance to fly.

The Balancing Act

The Crop was full but the taste of fresh food is something no one wants to leave. Its no different for this Tawny. As a result of having more food in its crop it decides to check if it can take more food and yet balance. The normal behavior for these birds is to open its wings and try and balance it to ensure that they are not carrying extra weight and hence loose balance.

The Kill Begins

The Tawny once decided, that it will clear off some space from the crop but regurgitating the old food to feed on fresh food, it doesnt waste time and gets into what it is best. KILL and FILL Look for yourself the Kill of the lizard. All it took this mighty tawny was less then 2 Minutes to KILL and FILL

The act of KILL and FILL

The act of KILL and FILL Contd.

The Tawny, Sizes its prey, slits the body with its sharp beak and slips the gut and slips it. (The crow, which was there while ago had planned and it was one happy one to get what, it wanted. Then the Tawny slits the head and the legs and has its fill. It then takes the remains to its nest not too far away The Act of KILL & FILL 2 Minutes Flat!
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The 5 minutes we spent with the feathered friends at the sanctuary was mildly put, Mesmerizing. The Lizard which came out of its 3 months hibernation, wouldnt have thought that it will be caught by the skillful hunter the Buzzard, Dropped by the same Buzzard succumbing to The Powerful Tawny Eagle who just by his sheer display of power got the fruit of his hard work, Picked, Tossed, Slit and left to morsels of food. The Key benefactor however was, the Opportunist Crow who by just being there at the Right Place at the Right Time coupled with its fearless attitude got its share with no efforts but by his smartness all in less than 5 minutes. Its too much to handle, but intriguing yet eye opening nevertheless leaving us to decide which one of the quality should we posses would that will help us survive in this milieu of our daily living. Thanks for your time. Regards, KP Krishnan Special Thanks: Sharad Sridhar

About the author:

KP Krishnan is a hobbyist photographer from Chennai. His interests are in shooting Nature, Wildlife and Landscapes. He is a Sales Professional working for a leading Advertising Conglomerate. KP Krishnan is married to Jayanthi and has a Daughter Sai Mansi.

Gear: Nikon D4, Nikkor 600mm f/4 VR ED G