African Fish Eagle

 

Hello friends before I start let me thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart, without your love and support journey to achieve the century would not have become possible. Never thought that I will get so much of love from my followers, will keep my promise for updating you on unique wilderness and together we will achieve many more milestones in future. 

After hitting the century what to offer is a big challenge, with multiple option in mind what to offer, was getting into multiple loops but then thought lets continue to enjoy African safari for a while, and then I started looking into African Safari portfolio. Suddenly lake Naivasha's pictures helped me to finalize today's topic. last time it was animal so I thought to bring charming bird this time and hence I am bringing you Pirate of African River. Yes, it is none other than charismatic and sharp African Fish Eagle.

The pirate story

The interesting fact of this lovely raptor is that they are Kleptoparasites, This means they actively steal food from other birds. Goliath herons and saddle-billed storks are their common victims, but fish eagles can scavenge like the best of them and will take from almost any other bird. This is why people call them the pirates of Africa’s rivers and lakes! 

Another story is about the hunting style, the biggest success of the trip was to capture this lovely creature with its specialty. We were continuously watching a couple of eagles and ignoring all other species for some time, we were praying for eagle to find prey. After strong prayer, our dream came true when with sharp eyes eagle managed to target fish and came down heavily and grabbed it with its strong talons. It was nothing but the golden moment and we were as in high on excitement.  DSLR section will help more to understand our excitement, Now let me provide you details of fantastic facts of this elegant bird in the next section. 

Fantastic Facts

They belong to the Haliaeetus genus of sea eagles, one of the most ancient bird genera. These birds have been here since long before man. In fact, they’ve been here since before primates!  

A fish eagle’s toes are coated in sharp barbs, called spiricules, which consequently, help it to grasp fish and other slippery prey

The African fish eagle is the national bird of four countries. These four countries are where the bird is found in abundance: Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Sudan. Not only is it their national bird, but the fish eagle also features on the coat of arms of all these countries

They have an incredibly diverse dinner menu, African fish eagles aren’t just scavengers. Nor do they feed purely on fish. Other birds and mammals supplement fish. They are incredibly efficient hunters, picking on ducks, waterfowl, and various birds. In East Africa, they even feed on flamingos. Other prey includes lizards, frogs, and carrion

These raptors are such strong hunters they sometimes target unusual prey. Who would think that a fish eagle could carry off a baby crocodile! Or a small monkey!

African fish eagles can carry prey that’s up to ten times its own body weight. Rather than carry it high into the sky it will drag prey across the water surface until it reaches a safe place to land

It has many names; in Zimbabwe, they are called Hungwe, in the Shona language. To the Zulu, they are Inkwazi. In Afrikaans, these birds are known as Visarend

Fish eagles sing with hippos, Fish eagles have a very distinctive yodeling yelp. Amazingly, these birds duet with hippos. Fish eagles provide the treble while hippo grunts offer the baritone in this animal orchestra

African fish eagles are one of the highlights of an African safari. They can thrive in marshes, rainforest, grassland, desert coastlines, swamps, and savannahs. Don’t miss lake safari at Naivasha to enjoy Fish eagle show

I hope you liked this blog, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Jharkhand

Asian Koel –

The Asian Koel is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, where the foster parents raise the young. Refer the link to know more https://btwildart.blogspot.com/2019/03/melody-queen-kokila-koyal.html 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Speed Star Cheetah

 

Hello friends hope you are in good health and keeping your loved one safe, the more you talk on COVID is just irritating and painful hence let’s not get into the same and directly move to wildlife to get some good moments to cherish in this tough time.

Today I have picked up one of my favorite amongst big cats, today is International cat day hence I take this opportunity to come up with a big blog on the big cats. So give big claps and a warm welcome to Chatur Cheetah.

Considering the depth of the subject and the kind of quality which Cheetah posses, it is difficult to keep it short and hence I will try to provide details which are uncommon and interesting, so lets start with my experience and after that, we will go into the depth of this lovely cat.

Exceptional experience

Masai Mara was the place where we could experience the charm of this lovely cat. Unfortunately, in India, it is no longer there in wild but you can find them in some big zoo like Mysore zoo, so to see the charm in wild very few places are there in the World and Masai is one of them. I was very much excited to see Cheetah because so many times heard the stories on Nat Geo about speed and one point in time like others I was also confused about leopard and cheetah. It was a dream come true when we saw 3 together, 5 brother story is very famous and yes we could see like that 3 brothers together. At one point in time, they planned a hunt but could not make it due to distance as well as Zebra were on alert mode so the hunt was not successful but the atmosphere these 3 brothers created was just amazing. They got split in 3 different directions and talking with eyes with each other, it was just a unique and rare experience and hence I thought to bring the same here for your interest, you can make out from pictures as well. Let pictures talk more than words and hence let’s move to the next section to know unknown facts.

U3 – unheard unknown unique

How I generate speed

We are aware that Cheetah is a fasted animal and no one can achieve that speed but most of us don’t know that but they can sustain this speed for a very short distance of approximately 1,500 feet. Cheetah can accelerate at an amazing rate, going from a standstill position to as fast as 68 mph in less than three seconds but for a very short span of distance. Let me tell you the reason behind achieving this speed as well as why they cannot continue it for long-distance.

The cheetah has an enlarged heart and lungs that enable it to take in lots of oxygen and circulate it in a very effective manner. The nostrils of the cheetah are also larger than most animals of its size. Those adaptations allow the cheetah to take in ample oxygen to power their muscles efficiently to create maximum power and speed. Apart from the heart and lungs, a long thin body structure with the added benefit of long powerful legs helps cheetah to keep streamlines and aerodynamic to maintain top speed. 

Why high speed but a short distance

Now let me tell you the reason for what happens once such top speed is achieved and why it cannot go for long with a top speed. For top speed, they expend too much energy in running and they put a tremendous toll on lungs and heart plus body temperature rise to dangerous heights. Because of this, they run at top speed for a very short distance and they have to stop and cool down after they generate such high energy for running else it will cost a life.

The Subspecies

How many of us even know that there are subspecies in Cheetah? In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognized these four subspecies as valid. 

Southeast African cheetah, Asiatic cheetah (confined to central Iran, and is the only surviving cheetah population in Asia) Northeast African cheetah and Northwest African cheetah

King cheetah

The king cheetah is a variety of cheetah with the rare mutation for cream-colored fur marked with large, blotchy spots and three dark, wide stripes extending from the neck to the tail. At one time it was believed to be a cross between leopard and hyena. Since 1927 the king cheetah has been reported five more times in the wild in Zimbabwe, Botswana and northern Transvaal; one was photographed in 1975

After learning some amazing facts let us get into facts which are equally interesting and will give you a complete idea about this lovely creature. 

Little more about me

Although now found in Africa, the cheetah is believed to have originated in the Americas. The slender big cat started its migration into Asia about 100,000 years ago via the Beringian land bridge. The cats then moved southward into Africa 

Those black tear lines on either side of a cheetah’s nose helps in keeping the sun out of the big cat’s eyes while they hunt

A cheetah’s claws don’t retract when they run. Instead, they act like cleats to help the cheetah reach its top speeds. When running, cheetahs use their tail to steer, like a rudder for a boat

Cheetahs have between 2,000 and 3,000 spots, which help them to camouflage themselves

Cheetahs have evolved to live in an environment where water is scarce and can survive on one drink every three to four days

Female cheetahs are solitary, living alone or with their young. Males, however, live in small family groups of 2–3 brothers, known as coalitions

A cheetah has amazing eyesight in the daytime, they can spot prey from 5 km away but their night vision is poor

Sadly, this beautiful animal is threatened by loss of habitat and prey, as well as conflict with humans. As a result, the cheetah is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list

I hope you liked this blog about speed star cat that is too on international cat day, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

Difference between cheetah and leopard

Cheetah	Leopard
Cheetah have spots	Leopards have rosettes
The spot of a cheetah is a clear, single, black spot separated from the other spots on the cat's body	A leopard, however, has smaller irregular shaped spots that group together in circles to form rosettes
The weight of a male cheetah is about 54kg	Male leopards in this area weigh closer to 60-70kg
Cheetahs are the fastest animals in the world	Leopards are only half as fast as a Cheetah
A cheetah’s tail is also much flatter in shape. Almost think of it as a rudder that the cheetah can use to steer itself when it’s running at top speeds	A leopard’s tail is much more tubular in shape. The importance of the tail for a leopard is balance, particularly when they’re hoisting carcasses, climbing up and down trees
Cheetah cannot climb tree	Leopard are expert in going up on tree along with kill as well
Cheetah have black ‘tear marks’ that streak from the inner corner of their eyes and down their cheeks	Such tear marks are not present in Leopard

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DSLR Section