A Sandpiper

The Common Sandpiper is a migratory species that calls rivers, ponds, or lakes home.

The Sandpipers’ long slender bills are ideal for ‘probing’ the swampy soil for prey that mostly includes little insects, worms, frogs and other coastal creatures.

Their long legs enable speedy movement, and they are often spotted running around the banks of lakes and ponds in large groups, almost resembling a moving brown wave!

Ambling along Kabini's Banks?

During flight, Common Sandpipers are stiff-winged and typically stay close to the water/ground. While airborne, they tend to be vocal birds, producing shrill, yet broken cries.

A polyandrous species, the females migrate to the migratory grounds prior to the males. The female courts the male and often lays a clutch of 4 eggs. The chicks normally leave the nest as soon as the last egg hatches, and begin feeding and fending for themselves. The mothers usually leave by then, while the fathers watch over them for a couple of weeks.

You will find Common Sandpipers all over the edges of the river at the Orange County, Kabini resort, especially around the small swamp beyond the fields.

Sloth Bear

I was in no mood to get out of the vehicle and help him reach those frustratingly inaccessible spots that were itching, but remained out of reach even for Yoga experts. Nor was I in a hurry to permit him to reciprocate the favour.

Kabini’s home to the Kadu Kurubas, an indigenous tribe sheltered from the mainstream, and hence practicing a way of life that synchronizes with that of the wildlife in the region, rather than the outside world.

Kadu Kurubas abide in little abodes called Hadi or Hatti. Originally hunter gatherers, the Kurubas switched to swidden agriculture, and later, to weaving baskets and collection of minor forest produce.

A Kadu Kuruba outside His Hut

So the next time you decide to visit Orange County, Kabini, seek out Manju Admal, a proud member of the Kuruba community. His knowledge of the forest is simply matchless.

Purple Swamp Hen, Kabini

The species apes all the mannerisms and habits of waterfowl, from the legendary head and tail jerking while moving forward, to the stretched legs during flight. The bird can fly long distances although its dangling legs make it appear rather ungainly in the air. This bird has a raucous, noisy screech with softer clucking when feeding.

Soft shoots, frogs, and snails are the regular diet of this omnivorous bird, while it’s known to steal the eggs of ducks, cranes, egrets and coots. Spotted in small groups, they remain in one another’s company for the better part of their lives. All ‘clan’ members contribute their efforts in incubating and rearing their little ones.

The courtship display of this bird is legendary, where the male bows to the female, holding soft strands of reeds in his bill! .

The nest building ritual is an event in itself, where the couple choose a spot in the reed bed, trample on it systematically in a circular manner at a platform above the water level. These ‘communal’ nests then hold a clutch of eggs, while the community takes care to incubate them. The eggs can easily be mistaken for stones, not only being speckled, but also pale, resembling a pile of stones. The little chicks that emerge from them are fed by the ‘community’ for 10 to 14 days before they begin fending for themselves.

At Orange County, Kabini, the Purple Swamp Hen is often spotted along the edges of the boat jetty and the vast expanse of the shoreline overlooking the library.

Sauntering around Kabini?

A Tigress at Close Quarters!

She was tranquilized and to be released into the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. Bhadra has a reasonably good prey base, but not an overly healthy Tiger population. It is also well protected and the perfect place for her. She would have also invigorated the Bhadra Tiger ‘gene pool’.

The tigress and I continued looking at each other as if in an attempt to figure out which of us was the ‘mountain’.

The Tigress in a Cage

A Darter at Kabini

It is often believed that Darters swim with their necks above the water’s surface and bodies beneath it. While this is true, it’s in fact a tactic used by the species when an enemy (or a boat with tourists) approaches very close to them.

The closer you get to a Darter, the lower it sinks, and normally just has its neck and head above the water’s surface, often resembling a snake popping its head out of the water! Thus Darters are also called ‘Snakebirds’. However, under normal circumstances, they are buoyant like ducks or swans in water.

Darter eggs are a delicacy in certain cultures, while the birds are also eaten off and on. Some nomads in Assam and Bengal train Darters to be employed as in Cormorant Fishing – a traditional fishing technique in which fishermen use trained Cormorants to catch fish, where the bird has a ‘collar’ like that of a dog around its throat, preventing it from eating the fish it catches. Thus, when the fish is caught, the fisherman brings the bird back to the boat and takes the fish from it.

Oriental Darters (featuring in the list of threatened species) are regular visitors to the Kabini waters. The best sighting of these birds is made on the lake during Boat Safaris. Distinguished by their white lateral neck stripes, these birds are a real treat to watch!

Oriental Darter

A Nest Box

‘Nest’ is not the appropriate word to use in connection with Barn Owls, as they build no nests as such, preferring instead to lay eggs on a layer of pellets accumulated at their roosting spot. Such sites are deep spacious cavities in trees, dark corners of barns, churches, old buildings, or even gaps in straw stacks!

With the number of trees and old buildings dwindling due to modernization, nest boxes surely provide an opportunity for this declining species to ‘re-establish itself’. While owls may accept a nest box readily, they use it to roost only for as long as 2 years before finally breeding.

Home Sweet Home!

I tied the the nest box securely to a fork in the tree. It has now been years since that day, and as I’m no longer in Kabini, I would appreciate it if on your next visit there you could revert to me about whether my efforts have been successful or not.

An Elephant Family

It’s through this social structure that elephants ‘grow up’ to develop ‘well rounded personalities’.

This ‘breakdown’ of this structure has led to a lot of aberrant behaviour among elephants, best witnessed on a large scale in orphaned elephants, poaching, and culling across the African continent.

These orphaned elephants were relocated to other areas. During adolescence, these elephants were spotted displaying aggressive behaviour towards rhinos, hence causing a number of rhino deaths. An adult male being introduced in the area, saw this behaviour undergo a  dramatic transformation, with no more aggression!

The significance of family bonds is best witnessed in the relationship shared between an elephant mother, her calf and another related adult female. While I strive not to endow animals with human sentiments. Yet I find myself ‘struggling’ when I witness such behaviour.

The sheer sense of amusement and tenderness that can be seen in these animals is undoubtedly quite staggering! Words cannot adequately express it. I will therefore allow the photographs to speak for themselves!

'Human' Sentiments?

All I have to say is that sometimes I wish humans behaved more like elephants!:)

A Painted Stork

Their characteristic long beaks are bright orange, and they often communicate by ‘clapping’ their bills. Storks ‘hiss’, ‘honk’, ‘croak’, ‘squeal’, ‘whistle’, and clatter their beaks!

European mythology has always portrayed storks as being symbols of fertility and parental attention. The widespread notion that they deliver babies via chimneys is believed to have originated in Northern Germany, probably on account of European white storks that normally build their nests on chimneys and roofs.

Known to be dedicated partners, storks are caring ‘homemakers’ and loving parents. This gives these beautiful avians a pride of a place in mythology; they’re not just ‘delivery vehicles’ where babies are concerned, but also symbolize the ‘safeguarding’ of newborn infants!

In Europe, the stork-human association is a long celebrated one, what with wooden Painted Storks placed outside homes to announce the birth of a child, and provide it good health, luck and happiness lifelong!

Back home in Kabini, they’re spotted in large colonies during Boat Safaris, while their ‘smaller ilk’ is sighted on the edges of the boat jetty, and on the expanse outside the Reading Lounge at Orange County, Kabini!

Remember spotting a Painted Stork in Kabini, anybody?:)

Strange, But True?!

A Grey Heron

The other distinct features that differentiate a Grey Heron from storks, cranes and so on are its unhurried flight and the long retracted (S-shaped) neck during flight. Others (like cranes) stretch their necks during flight.

Being a wader, the creatures of the shallows – fish, frogs, tadpoles, and so form its main diet, while a duckling or a tern chick is an occasional meal.

Known to live up to a quarter of a century, the Grey Heron has a mystical ancestry in Greek Mythology, and is often featured on tombs, mummy carvings and pyramid paintings. It was supposed to be the messenger of good fortune and was a key part of the Egyptian nobility, often portrayed guarding the clan with wings outspread.

A myth attached to this wonderful bird emanates from Arabia, where the bird was believed to produce phosphorescent powder from its feathers, which it sprays on the water, to light up the night while wading in the dark, looking for fish. Of course, science has proved this wrong and the myth has been debunked. Yet, the aura of enigma surrounding this magnificent bird, lingers.

Grey Herons are spotted in abundance at Kabini, relaxing on tree stumps adorning the lake during Boat Safaris, and posing beautifully for even ‘short lenses’.

Grey 'Matter'!

A small, slender, graceful little bird with slim black legs, the Yellow Wagtail is among the regular migrants to Kabini, returning there every summer for breeding.

The Yellow Wagtail

A few hundred birds form a flock, that then pair up for nesting. They normally nest on the ground with the male and female taking turns to defend the nest and range. Both parents feed the young, who leave the nest after about 10 days although they will continue to be fed by their parents for another two weeks or so before they fledge.

The birds spend most of their lifetime on the ground, darting around to pick the insects, spiders, beetles, caterpillars and so on off the ground. They have a characteristic undulating flight and when not on the ground, are often found perched on high bushes or fences. They are a communal species and often roost in large groups, often beside a water body.

At Orange County, Kabini, you can find huge flocks of the Yellow Wagtail around the Boat Jetty and all along the banks of the river bordering the resort.

Dotting the Kabini Banks...