Yesterday I saw this magnificent bird of prey sitting outside my window
on the Gulmohar tree. The sun was behind it so managed to get only this clear
shot before a bunch of crows irritated it off its perch and escorted it out of the
locality. The Long Legged Buzzard is a winter migrant to India. It can be one
of three different hues – pale, rufous or dark. Mine is of the pale colour. One
can identify it by the dark patches on the bend of each wing and the dark trailing
edges of the wings. The rufous tail is rounded at the end. The bill is dark and
the eyes brownish – yellow; the long legs are yellow (sorry to have missed the long legs in the picture!)
Post 11th March 2013: Yesterday my sister saw this bird in Lucknow! She happened to catch the long legs!
Distribution: The Long Legged Buzzard resides in the arid and semi arid
areas of North Africa. It hunts for preys in wide open areas utilising its
sharp eyesight. Its diet essentially consists of small mammals, reptiles and
even insects.
Breeding: It makes nests of sticks in rocky ledges and cliff sides as
also trees and shrubs, sometimes rebuilds nests abandoned by other birds. It
breeds only once a year.
Spent the last few days of 2012 in Chennai with our friend Ajit and enjoyed bird-watching
like never before! Why? Well for one because we were seeing water birds
from Ajit’s drawing room! One of the few marshes still surviving the tentacles
of urban development is just in front of Ajit’s house and I spent hours
watching nesting Purple Moorhens, Spotbills, Herons, Egrets and Cormorants,
sitting on the sofa. A Bird Watcher’s dream come true.
Purple Moorhens
Spotbill and Grebes
Pond Heron
Little Cormorant drying its wings to give it more buoyancy in the water
Common Sandpiper
Intermediate Egret
Indian Shag
Egrets waking up
White Throated Kingfisher
Red Wattled and Yellow Wattled Lapwings
A short walk around the swamp rewarded me with some bush bird sightings too.
Shikra looking for unsuspecting chicks
Yellow Wagtail (male)
Yellow Wagtail (female)
Asian Brown Flycatcher?
Indian Mynah
Bird watching with the morning cuppa and newspaper!
Vedanthangal
Bird Sanctuary
Our appetite thus whetted we were really excited to visit
the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary situated about 75 km from OMR, where we were
staying. The early morning drive on NH45 via Tambaram, Vandalur zoo,
Chengalpattu and Padalam Junction was quite pleasant, the road looked recently tarred.
From the Padalam Junction we turned right and drove about 11kms till we saw the
Forest Rest House (FRH); a km ahead brought us to the sanctuary gate. Ofcourse
Ajit’s GPS made the job rather easy robbing us of the adventure and thrill of
losing our way in the forest (there’s no pleasing some people!).
Vedanthangal is the smallest (73 acres) and the oldest bird
sanctuary in India. There is a very heartening story behind its creation. Way
back in 1798 on the complaints of the villagers about rampant hunting of birds
by local landlords and British soldiers, Vedanthangal, meaning “hamlet of the
hunter” in Tamil, was declared a protected zone by the British Government. In
1936 it was recognised as a sanctuary. In free India the Madras Forest Act of
1962 accorded it the status of a reserve forest and the 1972 Wildlife
protection Act declared it a wildlife sanctuary. The villagers are still
actively involved in the welfare of the sanctuary and we encountered a large
friendly group who wanted to see the pictures I had taken of the birds. Then
they wanted me to take their pictures. Then they returned the favour by posing
with me and took pictures with their mobiles. Peoples’ desire to be
photographed never fails to touch me while travelling in the villages of India.
A colourful motley group of villagers proud and protective of their feathered friends
A walkway has been made alongside a rainfed tank where the
migrating birds land to nest on the Barringtonia and acacia trees to nest. Many
amenities and facilities have been provided for the tourists including a Forest
Rest House with catering arrangements.
The walkway
I was thrilled to see Pelicans for the first time in the
wild even though Anu and Ajit were disappointed that the number of birds were
not as many as they had seen on earlier visits. I guess by end January-February
the numbers would be at their peak.
Nesting Pelicans
Pelican
A heron in the adjoining field
Streak Throated Swallows in the adjacent fields
Eurasian Spoonbills
Asian Openbillsnesting
Eurasian Spoonbills in breeding plumage
Grey Heron
Coexisting in Harmony
The only Indian Spotbilled Duck seen at the sanctuary
Golden Oriole (female)
Hear and see the bright and melodious male Golden oriole, beautifully videographed by Ajit.
Rufous Treepie
Eurasian Collared Dove
A bright Millipede
Common Sandpiper
A picturesque setting for Lesser Whistling Ducks
After saying a quick prayer to the sanctuary God to keep it safe we returned very pleased with our trip.
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