Shikra The hunter

Dear Readers thanks so much for your support and overwhelming response to Ajmer trip report, surely this will help me to deliver unique and unlimited wilderness in the future.

So the question remains Aaj kya pesh Karu? 😕 the blogging habit always forces me to look back to my old pictures to see if I can find anything out of it. This search helps me to improve on my old pictures and motivates me to take new ones as well. With this search today, I selected small but very sharp raptor bird Shikra. The qualities of this bird are amazing and will surely surprise you so let us meet the true hunter in the next section.

Powerful Raptor

Shikra is an extraordinary hunter and is known for its sharp hunting, it is a small bird compared to other similar members of the family such as Eagle or Osprey, but the power is nowhere less than they are. It swoops down on the prey and kills even poisonous snakes with the hit from the sharp beak. It then takes the prey to a perch on a tree limb to eat.

One of the reasons for sharp hunting is acute vision; it is eight times more acute than human vision. Because of such acute vision, they can attack from the limbs of trees or directly from the flight and complete the hunt successfully. Apart from the vision the beak and legs also play a vital role. The strong legs with sharp talons and a sharp hooked beak help Shikra to kill prey and tear it into pieces to eat. They are diurnal, hunting only during the day.

We were lucky to sight Shikra on various occasions and one time with rat kill. After hunting habits let me take you to the unknown qualities of this bird in the next section and then you can visit memory book to see the behavior of Shikra.

Little banded goshawk

I am sure you are surprised with the title; “Little Banded Goshawk” is nothing but another name of Shikra especially in Africa

Shikra (Accipiter badius) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae found widely distributed in Asia and Africa

Shikra is very similar in appearance to another sparrow hawk species including the Chinese goshawk and Eurasian sparrow hawk

An Indian Navy's helicopter base was named INS Shikra in 2009

Shikra is also the mascot for the 149 Squadron of the Republic of Singapore Air Force which operates the F5S/T Tiger IIs fighter jets

The word Shikra is borrowed from the Urdu word that is derived from the word shikari meaning hunter

Shikra was a favorite among falconers in due to the ease with it could be trained and was frequently used to procure food for the more prized falcons. (Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey)

Shikra noted for their pluck and ability to take much larger birds including partridges, crows, and even young peafowl

Shikra is a small raptor (26–30 cm long) and like most other Accipiter hawks, this species has short rounded wings and a narrow and somewhat long tail

Adults are whitish on the underside with fine rufous bars while the upperparts are grey. The lower belly is less barred and the thighs are whitish

The females are slightly larger and can be identified by the color of the eyes. Males have a red iris while the females have a less red (yellowish orange) iris and brownish upperparts apart from heavier barring on the underparts

I am sure you will like the content, now, please visit memory book and share your feedback with me on this blog or you can connect to me on btwildart@gmail.com