Wildbuzz | Parents duck, hunter’s luck

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The behaviour of a particular avian species towards a threat to its nest is determined by the context, such as size of the predator and how determined it is, and by the particular character of the nesting couple. The parents’ courage, or how a parental pair balances risk to own life with the evolutionary restraint to survive and breed again, determines the degree of resistance.

In Gurdaspur, Punjab, a Rat snake was photographed devouring Rose-ringed parakeet chicks. The male parakeet restrained the female by holding her tight from the nape of her neck to pre-empt any bid to hazardously entangle with the terrifying hunter. The Brown-headed barbet and Indian Scops owl watched the snake gobbling chicks in a state of stupefied, cold dread. Crows, mynas and a little sunbird joined the parent parakeets in raising a clamour, but from a safe distance.

Far to the east, at the AJC Bose Botanical Garden, Kolkata, a similar hunt unfolded. But the sizable rat snake encountered determined resistance. The snake, which had invaded the nest in a tree hole, was taken head on by the pugnacious female parakeet. Her maternal instincts roused to an extreme, she launched a fierce bid, all alone, to heckle the snake by trying to peck it and distract it with a frenetic flapping of the wings. Her fight back attracted the attention of the male, who flew back from a foraging tree and joined the battle by trying to unsettle the snake, the battling pair perilously in proximity to the serpent poised at the entrance to their baby cradle.

“The snake hung around but another 8-10 parakeets also arrived on the scene and took to the same tactics to dissuade the predator. Ultimately, the snake withdrew and I could observe that it had not managed to gobble eggs or chicks,” photographer Sandip Mandal told this writer.

Bonelli’s eagles in illegal captivity of Hari Singh, V. Mangwal, Sangrur. (PHOTOS: VIDEO GRABS / ‘MALWA BELT’ PAGE ON FACEBOOK)
Bonelli’s eagles in illegal captivity of Hari Singh, V. Mangwal, Sangrur. (PHOTOS: VIDEO GRABS / ‘MALWA BELT’ PAGE ON FACEBOOK)

Eagles in chains

Evidence keeps surfacing on social media – in brazen insult to the majesty of the law – of raptors plucked from the free skies and kept in captivity in Punjab. Raptors include Black kites, Shikras, Tundra Peregrine falcons and Black-winged kites — all are labelled wrongly as the ‘Baaz’ by their illegal owners. The latest evidence comes via a disturbing video from village Mangwal situated just outside the district headquarters at Sangrur, Punjab. It reveals the confinement of two Bonelli’s eagles stolen from a nest and chained by a young man, Hari Singh, who fancies himself as a falconer. Singh brags, he had kept another raptor earlier, too.

The video of 7:40 minutes drew a huge response on the Facebook page, Malwa Belt. Singh admits in the incriminating video to killing partridges and quails (which is illegal) to feed the eagles. Both eagles are tethered with strings attached to the legs, as the video shows, and one displays acute distress with a drooping neck. Singh claimed the eagles were gifted to him by someone who had left for Australia.

The private possession of wild Indian birds is prohibited, unless permission is secured from the Government. Just two years back, the Punjab Wildlife Preservation Wing had launched a crackdown on illegal possession of raptors following a series of exposes by this writer and a national outcry from conservationists led by Dr Asad Rahmani. But the malaise has obviously persisted.

Outgoing Punjab Chief Wildlife Warden, RK Mishra, was informed by this writer of the video and it was forwarded to him. “I will ensure action is taken against the man in possession of the eagles,” Mishra stated.

vjswild1@gmail.com

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