A late evening shot of a Harrier hunting for his last meal of the day before the darkness sets. The winters get hazy here and light falls off in the grasslands by 4.30 PM. The birds converge together in the grassland and communally roost together.
This year, we have around 8-12 Harriers already here from Central Asia and we are expecting a lot more of them. There were several Montagu's and Pallid Harriers - all roosting in the grassland, sometimes within 10-20 feet of each other. We missed the rare Pied Harrier which was seen last week in the same grasslands.
I also sighted a fox which was hunting quails and slowly disappeared into the grasslands. The place is starting to get active, but light gets worse till end of the year. Hopefully, we will have good luck early next year.
Many thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
Tags: .Birds of Prey .Raptors 4K+ Bird Birds Environment Flight India Nature Outside Pallid Harrier Telangana Vikarabad Wildlife Yenakathala
A winter migrant from Central Asia to India - these raptors along with the Pallid and Western Marsh Harriers come in tens of thousands to Indian grasslands every year. This year too, we have sighted around 8-10 of them.
The winters are very hazy here and light falls off in the grasslands by 4.30 PM. The birds converge together in the grassland and communally roost together alerting themselves to any other night predators - like fox or short eared owl.
I am not sure why it is, but one year it appears that a lot of Pallid Harriers visit the grassland near my city (an hour away), but other years, Montagu's are in good numbers and less Pallid's. Not sure why that happens, but there is some change in the ratio every other year. Anyways, the grasslands is starting to get active, but light gets worse till end of the year. Hopefully, we will have good luck early next year.
Many thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
Tags: .Birds of Prey .Raptors 2K+ Bird Birds Environment Flight India Montagu's Harrier Nature Outside Telangana Vikarabad Wildlife Yenakathala
A majestic and powerful eagle and maybe the largest raptor found in the country. A full grown adult eagle is around 80-90 cms tall with a wingspan of around ~6-8 feet. These weigh around 3-4.5 kgs - roughly 50-60% heavier than a Greater Spotted Eagle which is the common large raptor we see in our state..
During the Desert national Park trip last week, we sighted many of them all over the national park - they were just sitting on the ground alone and a few times in a group. On this day, we sighted 3 of them together with 2 Griffon vultures behind them - it was an awesome sight for me. All of these were impressive sized raptors - majestic, fearless and with a muscular / bouncer kind of look.
The birds probably had roosted the whole night in the open ground. They are hunters, but mostly scavengers and sometimes claim kill from other birds like the Falcons, harriers etc.. They also hunt reptiles, mammals like Fox, the young ones of Deer/ Antelopes, Ducks and Geese all of which are found in the desert. They have few natural enemies, but I suspect Wolves could take these birds down - and that area has no wolves, but a whole lot of foxes - both desert and indian fox.
These are national birds of Kazakhstan and are migratory to India during winters. They are very rare in my state, but common in the place I visited.
Thanks in advance for your wonderful feedback and likes.
Tags: .Birds of Prey .Raptors 4K+ 500 mm Bird Birds Canon Desert National Park EOS Environment F4L IS II India Nature Outside R5 Rajasthan Steppe Eagle Wildlife
A large migratory Falcon from Central Europe / Mongolia that is a partial migrant - meaning some part of the population is migrant. They are irregular and extremely rare visitors to India and per our guide, the last sighting was 2 years ago. This one is much bigger than a peregrine Falcon and looks much bulkier too. I think it is the 2nd largest falcon worldwide after the Gyrfalcon at around 50-57 cms in length with a wingspan of 100-125 cms and weighing around 730-1300g.
This is the second fasted bird in level flight and we saw it hunting in the scrubalnds and even fighting with another falcon (Laggar Falcon). The bird hunts smaller insects, birds and mostly the desert rodents known as Jird locally or Jerbill in English - these rodents are present in good numbers in the desert.
The IUCN status of this bird is sadly endangered and ebird lists the status as sensitive. The bird is quite popular in wild life trade especially in Middle East.
We just concluded a 7 day birding trip to the Desert National Park in North Western India and the trip was amazing. The density of birds was spectacular - there was a huge variety of raptors and a number of Larks, pipits and some critically endangered birds like Vultures and Bustards.
Many thanks in advance for your views, faves and feedback - very much appreciated.
Tags: 2K+ 500 mm Canon Desert National Park EOS F4L IS II Flight India R5 Rajasthan Rare Saker Falcon
This is the least common sandpiper in our region amongst the 4-5 different sandpipers species that we get here in winters. The birds appear in small numbers in surprising places and often seen solitary or small groups 2-3 at best. They are migratory and winter in India from Central Asia.
A shallow lake on the edge of the city had about 1500 + waders including ducks, plovers, sandpipers, stints, and a few other large birds like storks. The water level was quite low making it bad for fishermen so the area was sort of left undisturbed. That made it made it a wonderful place for photography. This shot was captured on the banks of that lake. This year, the lake is overflowing due to late heavy rains and there is almost no chance of waders coming there sadly.
Many thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.
Tags: .Passerines .Shanks 2K+ Bird Birds Environment Flight Hyderabad India Kistareddypeta Lake Marsh Sandpiper Nature Outside Telangana Wildlife