Short-toed Eagle - The Snake Master

 

Hello everyone, before we get into the subject let me update you that I am done with the vaccination and request you all to complete the vaccination at the earliest, this will help us to get freedom from this deadly virus.

I am very much hopeful of a fantastic season of wildlife and waiting to explore new places but till the time old trip will help us know about unique species. Today I am bringing you a lovely bird which I found at Bhigwan. The place is best suited to this bird and hence it is a kind of home ground to it. You should take out some time to explore such places; it helps to gain knowledge about the quality of nature we have. Now without taking more time let me update you on the story and facts of this bird. 

I love snake

As you know we start with a short story and then we get into more details, so I will continue the tradition and hence I am starting with the story followed by facts of this bird.

You must be thinking it must be a side effect of the vaccine, since when I started loving snakes 😜. The tile is not for me, it is for this bird who loves snakes like anything. I love Snacks and bird loves Snakes, repeat both words 20 times and let me know you are able to repeat them properly or not 😝😝😝

After a little bit of fun let me brief you on my experience, last year in the month of October after travel relaxation we planned a trip to Bhigwan.  We wanted a place that can be reached within 5/6 hours (self-drive types) because this was our first visit in the COVID period hence we opted for Bhigwan. 

The place is famous for boat safari as well as grassland birding, we decided to go for grassland because we had experienced boat safari in past. Grassland is a different world altogether; it is nothing less than heaven because of greenery and countless unique birds and Short toed is one of them. 

We got this bird sitting on top of the tree monitoring the grassland for food, Drongo tried to disturb this bird many times but it hardly bothered short-toed. The aggressive eyes and light grey body make this bird very attractive; apart from this, there is a lot more to learn, and hence let us visit the next section to know more. 

Fantastic facts

The Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus Gallicus) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards, and harriers

This bird love snakes; the area rich with snakes becomes the habitat of this eagle. They are famous to battle larger snakes on the ground and eat them swiftly; it swallows snakes with ease (as if people eat noodles 😜)

The Short-toed Eagle is found in open cultivated plains, arid stony deciduous scrub areas, foothills, and semi-desert areas. It requires trees for nesting

They can be recognized in the field by their predominantly white underside, the upper parts being grayish brown. The chin, throat, and upper breast are a pale, earthy brown. The tail has 3 or 4 bars. Additional indications are an owl-like rounded head, brightly yellow eyes, and lightly barred underwing

Its prey is mostly reptiles, mainly snakes, but also some lizards. Occasionally small mammals to the size of a rabbit; rarely birds and large insects

This eagle is generally very silent. On occasions, it emits a variety of musical whistling notes. When breeding it lays only one egg, but can live up to 17 years

Please visit the DSLR section to connect story with this lovely bird

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and in the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

State Bird of Manipur

Mrs. Hume's pheasant –

This rare and little-known pheasant is found throughout forested habitats of the Mizoram, Patkai Range, Yunnan, and northern parts of Myanmar and Thailand. The diet consists mainly of vegetation matters.

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Lucky The Bharadwaj

 

Hi everyone, hope at least one shot of vaccination is done with all of you, if not then please without taking more time complete the same at the earliest.

I will not give more “Gyan” on COVID because many social media experts are doing this job 😜 So let us focus on our expert job, which helps generate positive energy. Though traveling is still a challenge, old trips are helping me to provide you unique topics regularly. 

While searching today's topic, the picture of this bird made my job easy and immediately I decided to publish details of this lovely creature. Let us meet this not so handsome but lucky bird in the next section. 

Down the memory lane

Before we get into the facts let me take you to memory lane, the time when I was a kid in this field and was completely unaware about birds. In one of my early forest visits, I saw this bird and shouted “Crow with brown color” this was my innocence at that time, the beauty of nature is that such lack of knowledge is acknowledged as innocent 😝😝 Later on, I understood that this is not a crow but this is a “Crow Pheasant.” 

With every trip when I started getting into depth, I learned that the bird is associated with some superstitions and beliefs. One of the superstitions connected with wildlife is that the bird is very lucky; Tiger sighting is assured if you sight this bird in the forest. Therefore, this means when you visit the forest you should look for Crow Pheasant and not a tiger because this bird will bring the tiger luck anyways. Just kidding, never believe in any such superstition just visit the forest and enjoy every bit of it without bothering about the specific sighting, trust me it will be more rewarding. So with this thought let us move to see some wonderful facts about this bird.

Fantastic facts

This bird is popularly known as Greater Coucal, Crow pheasant, or Coucal

Bharadwaj Bird is an amazing terrestrial bird, which resembles a mixture of crow and a pheasant. The scientific name of this species is Centropus sinensis. It belongs to the family Cuculidae but it comes under the order Cuculiformes

Though the name is Crow Pheasant they does not belong to the crow family, they belong to the Cuckoo family (Cuculidae) but they are not a part of brood parasite species. (Brood Parasite means the birds who lay eggs in the nests of other birds Cuckoo i.e. Koyal is known for this) 

They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in a wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. One of the most captivating features of this bird is its bright blood-red eyes 

Before their breeding season between June and September, the courtship display of these monogamous birds involves the male trying to woo a female by chasing after her on the ground and bringing her gifts of food. If she accepts, with a droop of wings, they bond and go into the nesting process

Bharadwaj Bird is one of the members of the genus Centropus. The genus has nearly 30 species of birds from the cuckoo family. This species has divided into several subspecies and some of them were separated as individual species

Some subspecies of Bharadwaj Bird are - Race parroti, Race intermedius, Race bubutus, Race anonymous, and Race kangeangensis

The large bird Bharadwaj mostly eats a wide variety of insects, caterpillars, and small vertebrates. Along with this occasion, they also eat bird eggs, nestlings, fruits, and seeds

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and in the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

State Bird of Maharashtra

Yellow-footed green pigeon (Hariyal) –

Yellow-footed green pigeons are herbivores. They feed on various fruits, berries, and crops. They also feed on buds, shoots, and various grains 

Click to know more - 

https://btwildart.blogspot.com/2019/10/high-five-hariyal.html

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Barasingha The Bhoorsingh

 

Hello my blog family, hope you are keeping safe from this 2^nd wave. please take the vaccination as soon as possible this will help us to get rid of the virus to some extent. 

Thank you so much for liking the Trogon bird story. This is now becoming a challenge because of no new trips until things back to normal to some extent and both round of vaccination is done at my end. 

I started searching for a new topic and realized that since January 2021 we have not yet met any animals and hence today I decided to present the story of animals, this is an outcome of the last trip of Kanha. Trust me this story you will like the most because the journey is interesting and inspiring as well, let us meet Mr. Bhoorsingh I mean "The Barasingha"

My Deer Barasingha  

I know it should be Dear and not Deer, the purpose of writing “Deer” because Barasingha is nothing but part of the “Deer” family so I termed it as Deer. Let me first explain the story of my experience with it and then I will update you on facts. I was not aware of Barasingha until Jogi updated us about this lovely creature. He explained why Barasingha (Hard-ground Barasingha) should be the main attraction over the tiger here. Reason no. 1, this reserve is the only place in the world where you can see the Hard Ground Barasingha in the wild. Reason no. 2, Barasingha is a magnificent creature when you see them standing tall in a meadow, with the golden sunlight lighting up their coats. 

Considering expert opinion we spent a good amount of time without thinking about the tiger, we missed the tiger very closely because we took more time with Barasingha but it was worth giving more time to it. You can find a tiger in all tiger reserves but you can find Barasingha only at Kanha hence it makes more sense to shower more love on this special animal. You can see the result in the DSLR section, meanwhile, let us see some exciting facts in the next section.

Fantastic facts

The Barasingha hard-ground swamp deer (Branderi Barasingha) is the state animal of Madhya Pradesh

A LARGE DEER WITH A woolly golden-hued coat, the Barasingha swamp deer gets its name from the many tines on an adult male’s antlers; “Barasingha” means “12-tined” in Hindi 

Stags can actually have up to 20 tines, which gives them a very regal look indeed, for those lucky enough to see these beautiful, elusive animals

Barasinghas generally stick to herbivorous diet, composed of leaves and grass. The Wetland Barasinghas are known to supplement this diet with aquatic vegetation

Barasinghas have a polygynous mating system, where the dominant male mates with a group of females known as a harem. Each male defends his mating rights, engaging in harsh competition and fights with other males

Males of this species are commonly known as 'bucks'. Meanwhile, large males are called 'stags'. Female Barasinghas are known as 'does' and offspring are called 'fawns'

Antlers of these animals are an extension of their bones. When antlers of a young deer emerge, they are usually covered in a layer of 'felt', which has blood vessels in it. When this felt dries, young males remove it and expose their antlers. They get rid of the felt by rubbing against tree bark

There are 3 sub-species of Barasingha: Wetland Barasinghas, occurring in India and Nepal; Hard-ground Barasinghas, having only one population in Madhya Pradesh (India); and finally, Eastern Barasinghas, which form a single population in Assam, north-eastern India

So many qualities are there with this lovely creature, facts are endless but one ugly fact is that once it was on verge of extinction but now it has reached the status of vulnerable. Let me explain the story of extinction to the vulnerable in the next section. 

The Inspiration 

After knowing the interesting part, it is time to know the inspirational part

It was very close to extinction when a successful breeding program and conservation practices at Kanha National Park brought the animals back from the brink

There were only about 60 individuals left in the national park when the conservation program started in the early 1970s

Various conservation methods were used, including habitat improvement and captive breeding, and today there’s an estimated 800 Barasingha in Kanha

The Barasingha is a Kanha success story, which the park celebrated in 2017 by becoming the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot: Bhoorsingh the Barasingha

From 60 to 800 and counting is the true inspiration for all other conservation programs, well managed and proper execution has paid off and results are amazing. Kudos to Kanha for setting up an example of intent, the message to everyone is that with the right intent, you can achieve next to impossible task as well

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and in the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

Common difference between Barasingha and Sambhar Deer 

The confusion between Sambhar deer and Barasingha is common throughout India. Though they both are from the same family of ‘even-toed ungulates’, they differ from each other

1.  The antlers of Barasingha are wide-open, whereas those of Sambhar deer are more curved

2. The fully-grown Sambhar deer have 4 to 8 branches on antlers. However, Barasingha has 12 or more branches on their antlers. In both species, only males have antlers

DSLR Section 

Tufani Trogon

 

Hi friends, my heartiest thanks to each one for appreciation and motivation, with your blessing “BT Wild Art” has reached millstones like 32K clicks on blog post and around 47 lacs views on Google map. Many thanks to the social media platforms like FB, Twitter, Insta, Google Map for providing such platform, this helped me to spread awareness about wilderness.

Please note how to utilize social platform is purely our own responsibility, it is a platform where you can express your views, but at the same time, we should be mindful towards content, we opt to post, so please spread positivity and stay away from fake and negativity. 

Before I start let me apologize for the delay in posting blogs, due to the current situation it is becoming difficult to post a blog every week, and hence it is taking a bit long. But it is a constant endeavor to provide uniqueness regularly. Therefore, with the promise of uniqueness, I am presenting today’s topic "Tufani Trogon" from the first trip of 2021, so let me introduce the tiger of Dandeli

Mind-blowing memory

Dandeli what a trip it was! Birding heaven full of birds and full of memories, one of the most memorable events came from this Tufani bird and hence I am quoting this as Mind-Blowing memory. The main attraction of Dandeli is Trogon similar to what Tiger is to any tiger reserve hence the same was on top of our mind. On the way to OMH (Old Magazine House), we were discussing and planning to find this lovely bird to make this trip successful. We all were aware of the fact that it is not easy to find birds because it is not possible to track them. You can track Tiger or leopard with footmarks/other animal calls etc but with birds, it is not that easy but still, we always keep hope and believe in mother nature and our luck as well.

With a combination of nature's blessing and hope, we reached Dandeli, upon reaching, the Trogon welcomed us without even giving us the opportunity to get out of the car. The situation was such that we do not know how to react because we had to finish check-in formalities. The staff of OMH was kind enough to help us quickly so as we can meet this lovely creature.

The quick help turned into to fantastic sighting of Trogon, it was sitting on an open perch, and colors were shining brightly due to morning time. This was just a beginning because a memorable event was yet to happen. On 2nd-day Trogon again came in front of us but this time it came with a lizard, this was the best moment of the trip, never expected that such sighting will come in such a beautiful way. We were like whether to believe our luck or not, it was a true gift of nature to bird-lover and nothing else. I know you are keen to know more about this lovely creature, so why wait for more, let’s go to the next section to know some fantastic details. 

Fantastic facts

A name to chew on: The word “Trogon” comes from the Greek term for “gnawing” or “nibbling.” This might have been inspired by the gnawing technique the birds use to excavate their nest cavities.

Pluck fruits with wings: Trogons are mostly frugivorous, which means they eat fruits. But they can’t pluck fruits while perched, so instead, they hover in front of the fruit and pluck it in flight!

Unique toes: Trogons are the only type of animal that has heterodactyl toes. This means that their first and second toes point backward, while their other toes point forward!

Their legs and feet are weak and short, and trogons are essentially unable to walk beyond a very occasional shuffle along a branch. The ratio of leg muscle to body weight in trogons is only 3%, the lowest known ratio of any bird. They are even incapable of turning around on a branch without using their wings. 

They feed on insects and fruits, and their broad bills and weak legs reflect their diet and arboreal habits. Trogons feed principally on insects, other arthropods, and fruit; to a lesser extent, some small vertebrates such as lizards are taken. Among the insect prey taken one of the more important types is caterpillars; along with cuckoos, trogons are one of the few bird groups to regularly prey upon them. 

Trogons are generally not migratory, although some species undertake partial local movements; they nest in holes dug into trees or termite nests, laying 2–4 white or pastel-colored eggs.

The wings are short but strong, with the wing muscle ratio being around 22% of the body weight. In spite of the strength of their flight, trogons do not fly often or for great distances, generally flying no more than a few hundred meters at a time.

The position of the trogons within the class Aves has been a long-standing mystery. A variety of relations have been suggested, including the parrots, cuckoos, toucans, jacamars and puff birds, rollers, owls, and nightjars. More recent morphological and molecular evidence has suggested a relationship with the Coliiformes.

The unique arrangement of the toes on the foot has led many to consider the trogons to have no close relatives, and to place them in their own order, possibly with the similarly typical mousebirds as their closest relatives.

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and in the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

State Bird of Madhya Pradesh

Indian paradise flycatcher (Doodh Raj) – 

They make short aerial sallies after insects, usually returning to the same perch. Occasionally descends to the ground to pull apart insects. Chiefly found in wooded habitats.  

Click to know more

https://btwildart.blogspot.com/2018/06/fantastic-flycatcher.html

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Trip Report - Classical Kanha

 

Lovely readers, hope you and your family are doing fine, please take care of your loved once and ensure all safety measure, don’t go out without mask and sanitizer. We have seen many people are roaming around without masks which adds fuel to the virus. it is said that “Jaan hai, toh Jahan hai” but if you don’t wear a mask “Zindagi COVID ko free me Kurban hai.” so please follow the rules and stay safe. 

After the piece of advice let us get into the world of wild, firstly my apology for taking little long to publish blog this time but I am sure that this trip report will not only compensate the delay but will make you crazy. This time the trip report is about one of India’s finest forest, beautiful forest is nothing less than a heaven, so without taking more time let’s move to the next section to meet the king and its kingdom. 

The journey begins

Kanha is amongst my dream places, I believe that for wildlife lovers Kanha is like one of the Char Dham. Every year I used to try to visit this lovely forest but it came after a long gap of six years but when it came, it came with unforgettable memories. Let me explain the whole story in step by step manner so at all the points you feel you were part of the journey. 

It came as a golden opportunity because it came during the long weekend schedule, I grab the opportunity and booked it immediately in the month of February itself. It was booked at a time when COVID cases were much lower but suddenly it went wild and created tension with the possibility of strict travel restrictions or maybe another lockdown. 

Waiting for the COVID test result was 100 times more painful than waiting for the results of the exam because in the exam you know what you have answered but in COVID you never know which way result will come. 

Initially, I and Vishnu thought the flight we will be better and had done booking long back but when night lock-down announced we changed our mind and decided to go by train.  After all these dramas we reached Nagpur on Friday morning and started a long road journey towards Kanha with a total of 14 people in the group. By taking a couple of breaks in between, we reached Kanha without any trouble. We were warmly welcome by Camp Dev Vila under the leadership of Saily. This is how we reached Kanha with a lot of fear of travel restrictions in mind but the same got erased within a minute we reached. Now after the travel story it is a time to know Kahani Kismat ki or you can say Kahani Kanha ki, let's move to the next section to enter heaven. 

Kahani Kanha ki

We entered the forest with a lot of excitement and expectations to feel the forest and to capture anything and everything offered by this lovely place. Here in Kanha apart from Tiger the key attraction is Barasingha (Swamp deer) because of its distinct antlers (twelve-horned). Forest Department has launched a mascot “Bhoor Singh” to value this lovely animal. With the very first safari, everyone started picturizing dream shot but the question is did we get? let us see the success ration 

First two safaris we could not meet Tiger but it offered variety in terms of Barasingha, Jackal, Indian roller, Oriental Honey-buzzard, Vultures, and dancing peacock multiple times. Two safaris without tiger reminded me of Sanket’s kismat, which remains always Naram when it comes to tiger 😜😜😜

BABA THENGA ROCKS

Now it was time for the third Safari and that is to in the evening time, evening safari timings are nearly half as compared to the morning but Irfan Bhai our driver was very confident about probability maybe he had some clue. At the start, he took us to the place called “Baba Thenga” when I heard the name I laughed and thought Baba Thenga he dega kya? 😝. But the moment we reached it was a surprise instead of “Thenga”. Two sub-adult cubs (18 months old) of Tigress Dhawa Jhandi” entertained us for more than half-hour. During these 30 minutes, both cubs performed various activities like drinking water, sitting in water, walking around, sleeping for some time, and after that sitting near the tree in typical style. We captured everything and allowed them to take a rest and decided to move on so as we can evaluate the leopard, we were not lucky to get the leopard but we came across another dramatic situation of the unsuccessful run chase which is equally memorable.

THE RUN Chase

Now let me tell you what happened next in the run chase, we had no idea when we moved out from Baba Thenga. While moving on towards the gate, we saw 8-10 vehicles were standing and were looking in one particular direction. The moment we reached the female tigress “Tedhi Punchh” came out from nowhere to catch a deer, by the time we pick our camera, we realize it is a run chase. Tigress took a quick run but it was not enough to beat Deer. 

Deer somehow managed to run away and survived, it was just a fraction of the distance where deer took a turn and got a second life. The whole drama was too quick for us to capture that is to in evening's dull light but yes to see this kind of live-action was one of its kind experience and it will always remain in our heart. So the equation is like 3 tigers in 3rd safari, so how many in 4th? With this question, we ended 3rd safari with full-on party mode and had a small party as well. 

Aur yeh mara Chouka 

4^th Safari we were in a relaxed mood because of the previous day’s wonderful sighting, to start with we were stopping for every small thing, we spent 20 minutes on Barasingha's activity. While enjoying and stopping everywhere we realized that we missed Dhawa Jandi tigress just by a minute. Once you know that you missed a tiger your inner greed will not allow you to relax and your mind pushes you to find another tiger or a leopard. 

So again focus shifted to Tiger, meanwhile, we were searching tiger, one vehicle helped us with information about cubs of Tigress Naina. We followed the direction provided by another vehicle, the moment we reached, we saw a sub-adult cub of around 20 months was sitting in the middle of the road with an attitude, again drama started, it walked head-on and after that 3 siblings joined him. One by one reached towards the lake, It was a treat to watch 4 semi-adult tigers together. This is how our luck hit four runs on the last ball, we got more than what we expected. Now let me update you with what we saw during the trip. 

Lucky list

7 Tigers, Leopard, Sloth bear, Barasingha, Sambars, Deers, Peacock, Mongoose, Indian Gaur, Jackal, Vultures, Indian roller, Night Jar, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Green Bee-eater, Shikra, Black-buck and many more. 

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and at the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Mumbai Travelers and Team.  After a long time, I got the opportunity to have a trip under Jogi’s leadership. Many thanks for the flawless arrangements, it is one of the best trips of my life

Special Appearance – In a movie, a special appearance is a role, which steals your heart even in presence of a Hero. Similarly, Saily in this trip is a special appearance who deserves a special mention in this blog. Forest is her first home; you just cannot take away forest out of her. Thank you so much for treating us so nicely. Impressed with the way you managed single-handedly

Co-Travelers  - Many thanks to all of you, wonderful to have you all as part of my memory book

Camp Dev Vila – Yummy food, lovely cottages and humble staff and captain like Saily, just amazing, many thanks to each one of you

Guide and Driver – Irfan Bhai because of your knowledge and award winner guide Ram Kali we were able to manage such a great sighting, many thanks. 

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