Wheat fields, flooding, snakes and storks

The setting of winter in the northern Indian landscape signals a major change in the crops. After harvesting the rice, farmers plant mustard and wheat. Unlike the rice, that requires to be flooded, wheat needs the soil to be just wet. Farmers achieve this by flooding the fields intermittently. This sets off an unanticipated set of events. Mice and snakes in burrows recently dried out are forced out again and again.

Large waterbirds in Uttar Pradesh seem to have figured this circumstance out - to their benefit. In this set of photographs, I share our observations of a Woolly-necked Stork successfully dispatching a keelback. 

We missed seeing how the stork actually caught the snake, but the photo below shows the bird with the struggling snake, shaking it violently. As we watched, the snake became visibly weaker and nearly stopped attempting to escape altogether. 

 A Woolly-necked Stork with its catch of the morning - a keelback - in a wheat field.

The stork picked up the weakly struggling snake, carried it over to a drier spot near the dike and began beating the head with its beak. The photo below shows the snake - that is hopefully dead by now - with its bloodied head.

  

The bloodied and hopefully dead keelback awaiting the swallow.

Storks swallow snakes headfirst, and whole. This is easier said than done when the snake is a mite bigger than the usual small prey items that storks swallow. The photos below, that took well over a couple of minutes, show the difficult process.

Head-first is how storks like to swallow snakes.

The biggish keelback presented a bit of a problem to the Woolly-necked Stork, but it managed.

In the keelback went, and the serious swallowing began!

After a few minutes, many many swallows later, the snake completely disappeared visible only as a bulge in the stork's neck (above).

Though a snake being swallowed by a stork is pretty commonplace, given that snakes are commonly taken prey by these birds, what we watched represented much more. Human habits (planting wheat and intermittently flooding them), animals attracted by crops (rats in burrows, that in turn attracted snakes), and other wild species (here, a Woolly-necked Stork) all came together to make for a memorable viewing. 

(Photos information: Taken in Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh; taken on 5 Jan 2013.)

Out on a limp, as it were...

Injuries and physical deformities are commonplace in nature. Not all of these result in the death of the injured. Here are two somewhat unusual and amazing stories of injured birds.

 

This Black-winged Stilt, posing like it is stretching its legs, had an injured foot. Two toes appeared completely broken off, and at least one more was broken. The Stilt foraged like this in the flooded fallow fields for hours hopping around on one leg. It appeared to be avoiding getting the injured foot wet. After a couple of hours, the bird hopped over to a dry spot and relaxed its injured leg, before hopping back in the field to forage again. When a dog appeared, the bird took off completely normally and landed in another flooded area. Talk about taking things into ones stride!

 Among a flock of Little Stints, a tiny wading bird that migrates across most of Asia to winter in India, there was one with only one leg (in the left bottom corner). The bird hopped around foraging in the wet soils almost as fast as stints with both legs. This long-distance migrant seemed to be faring well with just one leg. Are two legs in fact better than one?

(Photo information: Black-winged Stilt taken in Aligarh district, May 09, 2010; Little Stint taken in Haryana, Feb 27, 2010.)

Getting an earful

Bank Mynas and water buffaloes hit it off just great. The buffaloes have plenty of treats walking around on them for Mynas to actually be territorial on the buffaloes' back.

But the real battles are fought at the ears, for the ears, and going by how the buffaloes endure the vociferous battles taking place at their ear, it must be good for the ears.

(Photograph details: Mynas on buffaloes - shot at Basai wetland in Haryana on 6 Sep 2008; the vocal battle for the ear - shot at Etawah on 12 Feb 2009.)

A leucistic lapwing

Albinism - reduction in the melanin content (black colouration) causing whiteness - is a well-known condition in many animals. However, leucism - a reduction in all types of pigments, not just melanin - is probably more widespread and often confused to be albinism. Here, a Red-wattled lapwing, normally textured brown-grey on the wings (see previous post), displays leucism. The black on the neck and face, and on the flight feathers, are normal - this is not a condition of albinism for sure!

(Photograph details: 9 Dec 2008; taken in Rae Bareli district.)

Of Owlets and Owlings

The young of an owl is an owling, while the owlets are a group of small owls. Uttar Pradesh's non-forested areas still retain several species of owls and owlets who appear to breed quite nicely as evidenced by the regular sightings of owlings. Here are two species that I was able to photograph.


Jungle Owlets may not be very appropriately named since they occur in a wide variety of habitats, many outside what may be considered a "jungle". This fellow was calling away on a Eucalyptus tree in the middle of a wheat-and-vegetable landscape.


The Spotted Owlet is perhaps India's most common and widespread owlet. The adult (top) is coming to terms with the early-morning lighting in the canopy of a Neem tree - the pupils of each eye are dilated differently. The owling of the Spotted Owlet (above) appears obviously teenager-ish, and is ready to begin hunting on its own at a few months of age. This particular one, however, was still depending on its parents to do the work.


(Photographs information: Jungle Owlet: 09 Dec 1998, in Rae Bareli district; Spotted Owlet: adult - 24 Jul 2009, in Sultanpur district, owling - 04 May 2009, Sultanpur district.)

Body language

Cranes have among the largest non-vocal communication repertoires in the animal kingdom. Body language is exceedingly important. Here are a few Sarusy gestures that other cranes would know the meaning of instantly.

Wing half-open, an exaggerated walk with legs raised higher than usual, this crane walks up very meaningfully to another Sarus that had landed uncomfortably close to an active nest. The interloper got the message rather quickly!

Crane employ a large number of threat postures increasingly aggressive in their meaning. This female (right extreme) gives a classic ruffle-threat combined with a bow to the pair adjacent to her territory while her partner engages them at closer quarters.

This rare bow-threat is carried out with elan and grace successfully dissuading a pair flying overhead from landing in this crane's territory.

Cranes' large body size and incredible physical prowess poses a great risk of physical injury should they need to joust physically each time a disagreement occurs. Non-vocal postures with specific meaning, like the three above, are a safer alternative for all concerned.

(Photographs information: Top: 10 Jul 2008, Mainpuri district; middle: 28 Nov 2008, Etawah district; bottom: 07 Sep 2009, Farrukhabad district.)

Waterbird foods: Black-necked Stork

Despite their large size and declining population, Black-necked Storks have received relatively little scientific attention. The most prominent study is that carried out by Gopinathan Maheswaran in the managed lakes in Dudwa Tiger Reserve in northern Uttar Pradesh. The storks there were seen to eat fish as their major food.

The unmanaged wetlands amid agricultural fields in western Uttar Pradesh have the largest known population of this species. Here, observations show that fish is not likely their major food - frogs (and reptiles) are! The photographs above show (from top) newly fledged juveniles have already learnt to catch frogs, snails sometimes figure in the diet of juveniles, and large bull frogs make for a great meal and are literally beaten to death by adults before they are swallowed.

(Photo information: top: 21 Jan 2009, Etawah district; middle: 7 Apr 2009, Etawah district; bottom: 12 Apr 2009, Etawah district. I put together all the observations I had made over the years of food items that Black-necked Storks ate, and now have a note in the journal Forktail in case you are really interested.)

Chambal diary: 4. Indian River Tern

Gracefully proportioned with long wings, a fish-shaped tail, bright legs and yellow bill, the Indian River Tern is a sight for sore eyes.

It resembles the Black-bellied Tern, but is larger with a conspicuous white belly that allows easy differentiation of the two species. The habits of the River Tern are very similar to that of the other terns in the Chambal and the Indian Skimmer - it is also evolved for a life in clean rivers with plenty of fish and islands to breed on.

Human use of the river does not appear to affect the tern population in the Chambal suggesting that the islands are undisturbed during the breeding season, and that the fish populations are adequate.

(Photos were taken on Jan 18 and Apr 09, 2009 at the National Chambal Sanctuary, Etawah.)

The sun, the moon, and the Sarus

Etah is one of the worst towns in Uttar Pradesh, but the district has excellent populations of Sarus Cranes and many other waterbirds. Roadside marshes, village ponds, perennial wetlands, and agriculture fields mesh and merge here to provide a variety of habitats.

I was fortunate to photograph Sarus Cranes in Etah with both the sunrise, and the setting moon. The former was easily possible since most areas I visited for the study in Etah had Sarus Cranes! The latter was a particularly happy and completely accidental occurence. Two Sarus Cranes and some storks were beginning to forage in a roadside marsh just as the moon was setting some time before the sun rose. We happened to pass by enroute to work, and here you are.

(Photo details: top: Apr 2, 2009; bottom: Jan 12, 2009.)

Cropland canids 1: The Jackal

Two canids are commonly seen in Uttar Pradesh's croplands - the Jackal and the Fox - and the third, the Wolf, is rather rare. Here, the Jackal is captured in a common crop - wheat (top and middle photo), and in the not-so-common amaranth. Jackals in Uttar Pradesh are run down by dogs all the time - one ran into the side of my jeep when it was being chased by village dogs, picked itself up, and disappeared into the wheat. Roadkills due to traffic are common on roads - I will spare you gory pictures of one here, and show you one later of the Indian Fox.

The Jackal appears to be doing quite alright in the cropped areas of UP - how this can be given the growing number of dogs, the lack of natural habitat, and apparent low amount of food is a mystery worth exploring.

(Photo details: Top - Jackal beside ripening wheat in Aligarh district, Mar 26, 2009; middle - Jackal hiding from dogs in growing wheat in Etah district, Jan 12, 2009; bottom - Jackal in red gram fields in Barabanki district, Nov 21, 2008.)

Everybody loves a good sun

The Gangetic flood plains can get pretty cold in the winter, and in the early mornings of any season. Sunning is therefore a commonly noticed activity in the myriad life forms here - nothing quite like some temperature to put life back into the frozen bones. Here are a few life-forms doing their thing in the sun.

From top: A Baron butterfly warms up atop a garden plant; the Kachuga turtle suns atop a Gharial that is a fish-eater (something that the turtle obviously knows); a Green Bee-eater and a Greater Coucal open up their feathers to let the sun warm up the darker feathers on their backs.

(Photograph information: Baron - Dec 7, 2008, Rae Bareli district; Turtle-and-Gharial - Jan 18, 2009, National Chambal Sanctuary, Etawah district; Green Bee-eater - Apr 7, 2009, Etawah district; Coucal - Dec 25, 2008, Jaunpur district)

Scavengers nouveau

Dead cattle in India are skinned and left out for vultures to pick clean - eating cow meat is strictly forbidden in the country. The large resident vultures in India are all but gone - victims apparently to a veterinary drug that remained in these cattle carcasses. Crows and dogs have taken over in their stead, alongside a small-sized vulture - the Scavenger or Egyptian Vulture (middle photo). Villagers admit that the dog population has increased significantly since the disappearance of the larger vultures, but no one has paid attention to the crows. Both are predators as well - crows are very efficient nest predators and packs of dogs take down anything they can including Sarus Cranes and Nilgais. The Egyptian Vultures is widespread with good breeding populations in Uttar Pradesh and there is no information how its population here is doing relative to years with good vulture populations. While crows and dogs also scavenged before the larger vultures declined, they had access to much lesser amounts of food due to the aggressive habits of the vultures that dissuaded other smaller scavengers from accessing too much meat.

Surely, it should be a concern that continued disposal of cattle carcasses may be affecting entire communities of birds and other wildlife on the farmstead!

(Photograph information: large-billed crow - Etah district, Jan 8, 2009; Egyptian Vulture - Barabanki district, Nov 23, 2008; crows and dogs - Rae Bareli district, Nov 29, 2008)

Myna hairdo

Mynas are neat birds – with lots of panache, attitude, and smarts. Not to mention hairdo!! This is a brief introduction to some of the styles you can see in the Myna world. The Pied Starling above has the touch-o'-white look; just a dash of old age on the side-burns.

This Common Myna (above) sports the just-been-shocked look.

Nothing like the wavy, wind-swept Harley look – preferred by the Brahminy Starling!

The Punk-and-Judy double-do sets these Bank Mynas apart; for couples only.

The mop-and-dandruff look – errrrrr….

And to end with this intricate centre-parted, backward-brushed, well-oiled, south-Indian, I-am-a-good-Myna look!
(Photographs taken in Sultanpur, Etah, Etawah and Farrukhabad districts between Dec 2008 and Apr 2009)

MmmmmMunias

Silverbills are a common species of Munias in Uttar Pradesh. They commonly engage in allopreening, meaning a bird preening another (as opposed to itself). And - as you can see - the preenee is better off than the preener. If one is not doing the trick, then maybe two will! (Photographs taken in Lucknow district, dated Nov 27, 2008)