The ‘tantalising’ painted storks
The word ‘tantalise’ means ‘desirable but just out of reach’. This word is derived from the Greek mythological figure Tantalus. As the legend goes, Tantalus is a son of Zeus who is an evil doer. In one…
Pallas’s fish eagle: Spotting a nest
In Kaziranga, last year, we spotted a nest. Was it empty? Empty nest? No, two white heads bobbed up. Hey! There is a couple inside! Eagles! Which one? This is Pallas’s fish eagle, a species classified as ‘vulnerable’ in…
The raucous white-breasted waterhens
I had just returned from work and was parking my vehicle, when I heard some loud strange noises in the field beyond the boundary wall of my house. It was raining and I should have rushed into…
Morning yoga with a scaly breasted munia
Manna Dey immortalized these birds in Teesri Kasam, when he sang Chalat musafir moh liya re pinjre wali munia… I have always found scaly breasted munias very attractive specially for their designer waistcoats. One morning, as I was enjoying…
Indian silverbills or white-throated munias
Quite often these drab-looking tiny birds are overlooked in favour of their more colourful counterparts. The Indian silverbills are one such species which though ubiquitous, are often ignored. They usually forage in groups and are very gregarious.…
Shy visitor: Black-hooded Cuckooshrike
Delightful morning. Waited with breathless anticipation wondering if this new visitor to the mango tree could be captured for posterity. Each time it shyly disappeared between the leaves in the canopy, my arms ached with holding the…
The greater adjutant stork: Scavenger in chief
This huge bird, standing over five feet tall, is not considered pretty and was often an object of revulsion. One ornithologist went as far as to call it “a prodigy of ugliness”. This is the greater adjutant…
Oriental Magpie-Robins: A black and white romance!
Romance is in the air! And the colour of romance is not red- it is black and white! First it was the Asian koels with their jugalbandi which stole the show. But these days in Sevagram, the…
Wooing your woman: Parakeet style
This Sunday, it was fun to witness the courtship display of a pair of plum headed parakeets. The male preened and tried to snuggle closer to its partner, but she fended off all his overtures. Sometimes indifferent,…
