3 days ago
Encounter with a curious robin
British ornithologists of the Raj found Indian birds enigmatic. To them, the Indian robin combined boldness and suspicion in the same ounce of feathered frailty. Further, unlike the British robin, the Indian namesake preferred to sport its red not on its chest but tactically tucked under a longish, active tail. The Indian fellow is not quite so modest and does not hesitate to cock his tail well forward over the back to display the chestnut hues adorning the vent, especially when his fair lady may be tempted to take a peek or a rival male threatens sovereignty! Male robin in an aggressive display when threatened. (CK Patnaik)
To this, I may add that the Indian robin is one whose temperament succumbs to bouts of puzzlement and curiosity, and will dare his life and limb to put his convulsed mind to rest. I was on a jungle quest in the foothills behind Mirzapur dam on Tuesday. Since I tend to take not the path less travelled but one not travelled at all, it was a toiling trek in saunal humidity and ripping thicket. As I rested on a rock, alarm calls emitted: ' at suspenseful intervals.
I was in a jungle where no humans set foot, and was wearing a black safari hat. My eccentric, mad hatter presence had alarmed, and at the same time, intrigued a male robin. It is currently the vulnerable nesting season, and the pair rears up to three broods. Robins can use snake slough to line nests, and one was fashioned from hair curls (hopefully not from a murdered, jungle-dumped lady)!
Having expended his calls, the robin abandoned his covert perch. He flew to alight on a bush opposite me, just out of arm's length. To the robin, I must have illusioned a 'giant alien' emergent from a cosmic black hole. He gave me an 'up & down' look in piqued headmaster style. He turned his neck this way and that way to get his eyes to ascertain my antecedents from all angles and mysteries. I sat in all innocence through the visual interrogation. Soon enough, the robin accepted my inoffensive demeanour as a gentleman's (unsaid) word of honour: 'I come & go in peace'. He flew off to his domestic chores, and his alarms were not heard thence.
I recalled John Muir: 'The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.' The 'painted' egret at Sukhna lake. (Anuj Jain)
Prisoner of the paint box
Some years ago, a bizarre case of a painted python had surfaced. It was seized from poachers at Rajpura. They had cunningly painted the python brown and lopped off its tail to make it resemble a Common Sand boa, which fetches a good price in the illegal wildlife market as it is used for rituals. Similar is the case of the pet bird trade, wherein wild birds are captured illegally and then painted over to make them resemble exotic species to procure high prices. For example, law-enforcement authorities have seized black Hill mynas with beaks painted over a neon orange.
On Friday morning, a ludicrous spectacle unfolded over the Sukhna lake. An eagle-eyed wildlife photographer, Anuj Jain, captured an Eastern Cattle egret (Ardea coromanda) painted over with gaudy hues of deep pink and blue. In its natural state, the egret is snow white but acquires a golden buff on its head, neck and back in breeding plumage. It was probably one illegally captured, painted over and released or had escaped. The incident underscores the laxity of wildlife authorities in keeping an eye on crimes in the urban periphery.
'A sudden flash of bright colours in the sky caught my attention. I quickly took a burst of camera shots and was surprised — and saddened — to discover it was an egret with its wings painted in unnatural hues. While it's not unusual to see white, captive pigeons with dyed feathers, witnessing the same on a wild egret was unexpected. Beyond the initial visual impact, it raises serious concerns: painted wings can make the bird more conspicuous, disrupt its ability to merge with its flock, and affect natural behaviour in flight. What seemed striking at first glance soon felt like a quiet violation of something wild and free,' an anguished Jain told this writer.
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