Nature's palette at Birdpur

Winter's officially out the door, but we still entertain memories of a January morning in Bharatpur amid winged angels and wicked vandals

Accompanied by the creaking of the cycle rickshaw's suspension, the eerie silhouettes created by the dense fog eclipsing the post meridian sun presented a negative portent right out of the sets of a Tim Burton movie when a thought crossed my mind: "Have I made this journey in vain?"


Though looking at the environs through a skeptical eye, I pepped myself up with the thought of a treasure trove engulfed in winter mist. Remitting the entry fee of 50 rupees and collecting my copy of the map, wiping the nasal trickle off the top of my lips, I entered Birdpur -- Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan.

Till dusk do us part...

Arid patches of land on either side and the veil of suspense still presented a murky view of the truth. It was as though avian life cared two hoots about the insignificant soul who had travelled more than two thousand kilometers to the Mecca of birding. Even pilgrims go back satisfied while I, whose quest was for beings more earthly, was peering through nothingness with the biting cold of a January winter gnawing resolutely and tunneling its way through the fortress of my determination. 


Two hoots I heard and two hoots was all that I gave to the antagonistic cold as Phool Singh the rickshaw puller and my guide for the day looked up the thick canopy and said, "Scops Owl." I could barely make out its eyes and horns through the mist and foliage. 

It is advised to carry your own lunch to KNP

Migrants, migrants everywhere...

"Yes Virginia! There are birds at Birdpur" was the boding as the Collared Scops Owl sighting was the prelude to an avian extravaganza that followed when the curtains of mist lifted on the world's greatest bird show. As the sun shone bright I saw nature's palette held more colors than an exterior emulsion's shade card. 

Nature's palette...

Starting off with the Redstart

The Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur is a national monument, and like any of the monuments it witnesses its share of vandalism with the picture-perfect facade of sightings disfigured by the graffiti of human footfalls. The bedlam created by tourists for whom Bharatpur is just another stop in their tight itinerary of to-dos is the reason birds retire deeper into the sanctuary from late December to mid-January, I was told. Yet, even its most niggardly offering had me glued to my binoculars. And, as an honorarium for my ardor during those cold and hazy January days, I was treated to some unique mammalian and reptilian encounters.

Mammals call it home too...

Moving on to the less disturbed areas of the park, I came across wetlands splashed with bright red shades of algae. This was paradise, I thought, and I could reach it with a economy flight ticket and two-and-a-half-hour rail journey. Why, then, do many embark upon the path of violence in their quest for paradise? I felt lucky that here I was, alive and experiencing paradise while sucking on the juiciest grapes and bacchanal pleasures nature had to offer, with a wicked smile for the plight of those who give up their worldly possessions or blow themselves up in a train station to achieve the same.

Bedlam...

...and those who manage to find peace

Further ahead a colony of Northern Shovelers offered a calming sight, when a Marsh Harrier appeared overhead resulting in pandemonium below. Through all that entropy one message appeared clear: There are battles fought everyday that we are not even aware of, and as I approached the board that pleaded for the conservation of the Siberian Cranes I realized that the results of these lesser-known battles affect us all. That battle was lost and the board now remains a mere epitaph, a grim reckoner that even paradise can be lost.

Marsh attacks

Tailspin - Northern Shoveler

Whistlers sounding the bugle

The sun had set and jackals howled as my rickety rickshaw thrust towards the park exit - I was back on the sets of the Tim Burton movie when a thought crossed my mind: "When will I return next?"

Epitaph!

Text and Photos: Anand Yegnaswami

Freedom in a cage - a critical look at captive breeding

On the 64th anniversary of India's freedom, we wonder about the efficacy of captive breeding programs. Are they really worth it?

In the last six odd decades since Independence, India has been witness to the exploitation of its wildlife and natural resources along with apathy to diminishing forests coexisting with strident conservation initiatives. In this land of abundant wildlife, royals and nobles were enamoured with shikar. With ample help from their English masters, they brought about a rapid decline in the population of species large and small. In the latter part of our history, conservation programs have attempted to create safe havens for endangered species. Some conservationists have enthusiastically embraced the idea of captive breeding and reintroduction. Programs aimed at augmenting the wild population of the species have yielded mixed results. On Independence Day, we look at the issue of freedom in captivity. Does it really make sense?

The Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus chrysogaster)

IUCN Categorization: EN –Endangered

The last surviving Musk Deer (2006) at the Kedarnath Breeding Centre

The Himalayan Musk Deer found in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Kumaon regions of India were extensively poached for the musk pods borne by male deer. A captive breeding program was commenced in 1980-81 at Kanchula Kharak in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttarakhand with a pair of Musk Deer. Thirty years later the program has slipped into obscurity. In 2006, when Sahastra visited the breeding center, he saw the last survivor of the program. The fact that the Musk Deer had perished due to disease and climatic conditions, indicate insufficient monitoring of these parameters.

Kedarnath Sanctuary in the Garhwal Himalayas protects critical Musk Deer habitat

Siberian Crane  - The Lily of Birds according to A O Hume (image courtesy ICF) 

The Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus)

IUCN Categorization: CR – Critically Endangered

Siberian Cranes had three distinct populations at the turn of the last century: the Eastern flock migrating to China, the Western flock to Iran, and the Central flock to India which wintered in the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. The long migration routes of these birds make them vulnerable to hunting. In 1993 a captive breeding program was carried out with two captive bred Siberian cranes introduced to the Keoladeo National Park to unite with the migrant flock and return with them to the breeding sites in Siberia. The birds stayed back and subsequent attempts to introduce captive-bred birds to the migrating flock failed as well. As the Siberian Cranes form strong social bonds at birth, the plan to see the captive-bred cranes fly back to Siberia failed as the cranes did not get sufficient time to build new social bonds with the wild cranes.

Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus)

Gangetic Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)

IUCN Categorization: CR – Critically Endangered

Gharials dwell in deep, fast-flowing rivers, which offer them abundant fish and sand banks for nesting. The threats they face are mainly from loss of habitat due to sand-mining, dams and irrigation projects, and hunting for their skin. In addition, depletion of prey fish due to overfishing has impacted the Gharial population. In 1976, after their population had dipped below 200 individuals, an effort in the form of Project Crocodile was launched for captive rearing of the Gharial. The National Chambal Sanctuary was set up in 1979 to protect the Gharial. Numbers have since dwindled after a major catastrophe resulting from pollutants in the river three years later, which resulted in the death of 113 animals. While captive breeding of Gharials has helped increase their numbers, it is imperative to safeguard the rivers that form the creatures' habitat.

Gangetic Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) in a Zoo

One-Horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis)

IUCN Categorization: VU - Vulnerable

Once ranging from the floodplains of the Indus to those of the Ganga and Brahmaputra, the Indian One-horned Rhinoceros was a familiar sight along the three great rivers. However, the fragmentation and destruction of its habitat for agriculture, and excessive hunting and poaching for its horn (which commands a huge black-market price as an aphrodisiac) saw the rhino population plummet, prompting stringent conservation efforts. As the majority of the rhinos are in Kaziranga, the skewed distribution of the rhino population adds to the risk of extinction in the event of a major calamity at Kaziranga. In 1984, a rhino reintroduction project was commenced in Dudhwa in a demarcated zone called the Rhino Reintroduction Area, which prevented possible conflicts between rhinos and the existing macro-fauna of the park such as tigers and elephants. A calf born in July is the latest addition to the rhino population. The phased approach to introduction with constant monitoring of feeding habits, spatial use patterns and other behavioral aspects has contributed to the partial success of the program so far.

Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica)

IUCN Categorization: EN –Endangered

The lion lionised on an India postage stamp

Records exist of the Asiatic Lion in Bihar, Delhi, Bundelkhand and Rajasthan. However, the lions in these regions were exterminated during the latter half of the 19th century. In the first decade of the 20th century, the only known population of the Asiatic Lion existed in the Gir region of the erstwhile princely state of Junagarh. The population has since sprung back in Gir and the renowned success story has prompted thoughts of the lions' relocation to other regions in India like Palpur-Kuno in Madhya Pradesh. One such attempt at relocation was made in 1957 when a lion and two lionesses from Gir were introduced in the Chandraprabha sanctuary near Varanasi. The pride soon grew to 11 by 1965 before abruptly disappearing. This proves the feasibility of relocation for the Gir lions as the lions had survived for seven years following relocation. 

References:

• Forest Department, Audit Report for the year ended 31 March 2006 - Chapter III 

• Protected Area Update – News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia, Vol XVII, No 2, Apr 2011

• Gharial Gavialis Gangeticus - Colin Stevenson and Romulus Whitaker

• Gharial Our River Guardian - Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India

• Management of the reintroduced Greater One Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in the Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India S P Sinha and V B Sawarkar, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun (UP), India

• The Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis Linnaus, 1758) S.P. Sinha

• Reintroduction of Greater Indian Rhinoceros into Dudhwa National Park – John B. Sale and Samar Singh

• Story of India’s Lions – Divyabhanusinh (National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), Marg Publications)

Text by Anand Yegnaswami

Picture credits :

Siberian Crane - ICF (www.savingcranes.org)

Musk Deer and Kedarnath: Sahastrarashmi

Other photos: Wikimedia Commons

Infographic by Beej

Encounter: Rufous Tailed Shrike

Often, the stupidest questions elicit the most enlightening answers. Such was my initiation to the little featherball known as the Rufous-tailed Shrike. I'm glad I asked, though...

I am responsible for one of the dumbest questions in Birdingdom. This is a belated confession.

One fine February evening we were happily maneuvering a pot-holed road in Rae Bareli as GS scanned the acacia bushes beside the road for birds. Suddenly he exclaimed, “Rufous-tailed Shrike!" (Beams with excitement, asks driver to stop.)

I saw the bird and inquired, “Why is this Rufous-tailed Shrike?” It was actually three questions:

Why is this bird a shrike?

Why is it a Rufous-tailed Shrike?

What are you so excited about?

You must have realized that I had figured it was a bird. I also had a passing familiarity with the color rufous.

Prickled by the question but managing to keep his composure (the sighting helped), GS snapped, “Observe.”

This I did.

Lanius isabellinus is a small shrike with a hooked bill adapted for tearing flesh. It has a grey or sandy-brown mantle, a prominent rufous tail and grey-brown ear coverts. The male has a white patch at the base of the primaries (this is absent in the female) and the female has faint dark scaling on the breast and flanks. The bird in the last picture seems to be a first winter specimen since it has the overall coloration of the female (including the faint dark scaling on the breast), lacks the white patch at the primaries, but has the dark black lore of the male. The bird in Sandeep's photo (the lead pic) is an adult female (lacks the white patch on the primaries).

In winters the bird frequents wooded country along canals, riparian tracts and acacia vegetation along small roads. It breeds in the highlands of Baluchistan, southern Siberia and the Daurian steppes of central Asia.

The Rufous-tailed Shrike eats smaller birds, lizards and rodents and has the gruesome habit of impaling its prey on thorns and barbed wires. It is usually found atop bushes and small trees – a prominent perch for hunting. The bird we saw flew down and picked up a large ant (see pic below).

Going by the field guide that we were using, the shrike had no business to be there. However, one cannot really fault the birding guides for this as the basic information regarding winter and summer ranges of migrants is quite archaic – some of it survives from the days of Salim Ali and the British ornithologists. Bird checklists for some districts in UP are last updated by the district collectors and amateur British naturalists (A O Hume was the Collector of Etawah and the district is an exception, thanks to Gopi’s fieldwork. The checklist is quite current with 400+ birds). Most siting data continues to be reported from IBAs and established sanctuaries but very few birders visit the offbeat places, which are not well-known or are simply off-track. This leads to over-reporting from certain parts while creating birding blind-spots at the same time.

The grand old man of Indian ornithology was wise enough to avoid bias and made sure that he birded in places like Bastar, Bahawalpur, Districts of United Provinces, Afghanistan, etc. where few people venture today. He had birded in Rae Bareli and has reported the Siberian Crane from there. In my multiple visits to Samaspur, a bird sanctuary in the district, I have never encountered birders. The sanctuary staff tells me that such visits are fewer than a dozen in a year.

Moreover, the migrants can shift the wintering range based on factors like temperature, cropping pattern and rainfall. This is both seasonal as well as gradual shifts over time. This makes it all the more necessary for the data gathering to be extensive and well-planned.

The shrike sighting turned out to be good birding education. The presence of this elegant little predator indicated that the migratory season was well underway. Moreover, migrants can often be found in areas in which they have not been recorded earlier either due to a shift in range or gaps in information. So it's good birding practice to keep looking for them. This is where initiatives like MigrantWatch are both welcome and necessary since they enrich our knowledge about these lovely avian tourists as well as track shifts in arrival times and geographical spread.

Incidentally (now that I am on serial confession mode), I am also responsible for one of the most stupid answers in all Birdingdom. More on that later. Patience, dear reader. Or patientez s’il vous plait, in case you are Francophone.

Text and photographs by Sahastrarashmi (taken in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh)

Lead photo by Sandeep Somasekharan (taken in Kutch)

Osama is dead, but will the cranes fly again?

Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, will America allow Afghanistan to lick its wounds and restore its natural heritage? 

In India, the wintering Siberian Crane has been missing in action for nearly a decade

Afghanistan has always suffered for its place on the map. For millennia, before traders discovered the Silk Route across the Hindu Kush mountains through the Khyber Pass into the riparian plains of the Punjab, before the armies of invaders from Persia thundered into the Indian subcontinent, and before Russians and Americans overran the land in pursuit of mercenary friends-turned-foes, Siberian Cranes flew unmolested over these vast natural barriers to their wintering grounds in India. Though migrating birds have been traditionally hunted in these parts, the outbreak of relentless war has so disturbed their passage that the critically endangered Siberian Cranes have not visited their ritual haunts in Bharatpur, India since 2002.

Of the migratory crane species, the Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus) has the longest travel route. They are known to use three distinct migration flyways to their wintering grounds. Of the three surviving populations, birds in western Siberia that winter in northern Iran use the Western Flyway, and those that winter in India use the Central Flyway. The third route, the Eastern Flyway, is used by a breeding population in northeastern Siberia to migrate to Poyang Lake in China. The Western and Central Flyways intersect in Russia and parts of Kazakhstan.

Birds using the Central Flyway traditionally migrated over a distance of 5,000 km from western Siberia through the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to wintering grounds that once spanned most of northern India including parts of Bihar. The Keoladeo Ghana bird sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, was a well-documented wintering ground of the cranes. Cranes are sensitive to disturbance and over time, as war games intensified in the territories along the cranes' Western Flyway, the numbers of Siberian Cranes migrating into India dropped alarmingly. The birds were denied opportunity to descend to their traditional resting and feeding grounds en route to their final wintering destination. The last pair was recorded at Bharatpur in 2002.

Heedless of political boundaries, wintering Siberian Cranes flew 5,000 km to their destinations along routes that traversed several nations

The Cold War warmed up in Afghanistan when America armed Mujahideen fighters with nearly $40 billion in weapons, including portable anti-aircraft missile launchers called Stingers, in order to weaken the Soviet Union's hold in the region. After the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of Soviet power centres in the Kremlin, the weapons remained with the mercenary fighters who changed sides at will in the decades of civil war that followed.

The southeastern part of Afghanistan was once covered with lush forests irrigated by monsoon rains. Less than two percent of those forests remain. In recent years, large parts of Afghanistan have been controlled by Taliban militia who, apart from committing humanitarian atrocities, also denuded the land of its forests. While the Taliban-supported timber mafia pillaged most standing forests for the Pakistan market, military bombings have ruined the remaining tracts. Hazardous pollutants from the explosives, including depleted uranium from anti-tank missiles, pose grave threats to the continued survival of humans and wildlife in the region. Fears are even raised of uranium dust being blown into rivers by windstorms. Depleted uranium has a half-life of 4.5 billion years and clearly the problems of war are not about to go away in a hurry.

After 9/11 the US administration, in pursuit of Al Qaeda, bombed Afghanistan without relent. It is ludicrous to imagine that thoughts of the country's wildlife and environment even troubled policymakers during heated discussions in the interest of US national security. With the reported killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, America has exacted more than its pound of flesh. 

What, now, will become of Afghanistan? Will the bombings continue? A part of me wonders hopefully: Why can't America, as part of its much-publicised rebuilding efforts, take stewardship of Afghanistan's ecology and allow nature to work her rescuscitating magic?

Will the Siberian Cranes arrive in India by the Central Flyway again? I'm just being a foolish optimist, listening for the rush of the wind in wings of hope.

References:

- Siberian Crane Flyway Coordination

- International Crane Foundation

- Project Mkono

Text: Bijoy Venugopal

Photographs: International Crane Foundation photo gallery