Birds of Kanha, India: Raptors

One big––really big––caution applies to birding in Kanha Tiger Reserve: Tigers abound, and they find people quite as tasty as a Sambar deer. Therefore, birding is primarily pursued from the confines of a jeep. And therefore, big birds are the easiest to spot and to photograph. Let's start with the raptors seen on this Naturalist Journeys trip!

A very close cousin of the Americas' White-tailed Kite, the Black-winged Kite also hovers over open country to hunt for rodents. When rodent populations suddenly soar, these kites can intensify their breeding efforts, and produce multiple clutches of young in a year, a rare trait among raptors.

A lovely, immature Black-winged Kite

(All photos by Narca)

The very agile Crested Hawk-Eagle feeds on about anything it can catch. Crested Hawk-Eagles are a subspecies of Changeable Hawk-Eagle, an abundant and widely-distributed eagle. DNA studies haven't yet resolved the question of whether the crested and crestless birds actually belong to the same species. These tropical raptors are mostly non-migratory, although on occasion a few explore beyond their normal ranges.

Crested Hawk-Eagle

Another very widespread eagle––the Crested Serpent-Eagle––sports a shaggy crest. It hunts lizards and snakes in areas of thick vegetation.

Crested Serpent-Eagle, bathing

Another raptor with an enormous range is the Eurasian Kestrel, a falcon that ranges across Europe, Asia and Africa. A few have even straggled to North America. Populations in warmer parts of its range are sedentary; others migrate. Like kites, kestrels will hover as they hunt. This kestrel specializes in feeding on mice, voles and shrews, with an occasional grasshopper thrown in.

Eurasian Kestrel male

Quietly roosting in a tall tree at one of our few rest stops (protected by high netting from Tigers), was this pair of Brown Hawk-Owls. Members of the Old World genus Ninox, Brown Hawk-Owl females are smaller than their mates––the reverse of other birds of prey. The three largest Ninox species have this unusual pattern of size. The other singular feature of these three owl species is that they capture mammalian or avian prey at night, and drape the prey below their roosts for an entire day before consuming it. This behavior of "prey holding" happens during the breeding season, and only males do it. Biologists don't know whether this behavior is a form of food storage or territorial display.

Brown Hawk-Owls, roosting

Jungle Owlets live only on the Indian subcontinent. Like closely related pygmy-owls, this owlet is primarily crepuscular, but may also be active during the day.

Jungle Owlet, not deigning to glance our way

Indian Scops-Owls are similar to our screech-owls, and until recently were all put together in the same genus. DNA sequence work has highlighted their differences. In both groups, new species are regularly being recognized or discovered. Two other scops-owls in India can be distinguished from this one by eye color and call.

Indian Scops-Owls, enjoying the early sunshine

Indian Vultures are critically endangered, due to use of diclofenac as a dip for livestock. That product has since been banned in India, with some indications that the vulture populations are beginning to recover. Since the vultures' precipitous decline, biologists have noticed a big increase in populations of feral dogs and rats, and their associated diseases––these animals feed on the carcasses, which vultures used to remove.

Indian Vulture

Tiger Time!

Our last wildlife sanctuary in India (on this Naturalist Journeys trip!) is Kanha Tiger Reserve. Located in the heart of north-central India, Kanha Tiger Reserve is comprised of lands having several designations: Kanha-Kisli National Park covers about 360 square miles and has a surrounding buffer zone, which connects to Phen Sanctuary. The three regions together form the Tiger Reserve. Kanha and its forest habitats are the setting for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Woodland at Kanha Tiger Reserve

(Photos by Narca, unless other credit is given)

This hilly reserve holds both highland and lowland forest types. Highlands support tropical moist and dry-deciduous forests. Slopes are shrouded in bamboo. Lowland forests are dominated by sal trees (Shorea robusta), with meadows scattered among the forest patches.

Many of the larger open meadows were once the sites of villages of the Baiga and Gond tribes, which were relocated, beginning in 1968. Controversial relocation of residents continues in parts of the Tiger Reserve. Those who have been evicted often do not feel that they were adequately compensated, so issues remain to be resolved. The reserve generally hires local people, whose roots in the region run deep.

A large meadow with grazing Chital and one big Sambar

Where Tigers thrive, a substantial prey base also thrives. The meadows today support large herds of Chital (Spotted Deer). Other deer are Sambar, Barking Deer, and the rarest of Kanha's mammals––the Barasingha, a swamp deer. Thanks to efforts at Kanha, the Barasingha is being rescued from extinction.

Chital, or Spotted Deer (3 photos)

Chital bucks have quite the outsized antlers!

A small Barking Deer, or Northern Red Muntjac

(Photo by Jim Shiflett)

A magnificent buck Sambar

The rare Barasingha: a buck above; and a doe below

The huge Gaur (the largest living wild cow) is considered vulnerable to extinction, but has a stable population in Kanha. Gaur bulls measure over 7 feet high at the shoulder. They prefer to live in semi-evergreen and deciduous forest, often in hilly terrain. Herds of Gaurs are led by a matriarch. Only Tigers and very large Saltwater Crocodiles are known to prey on adult Gaurs. When confronted by a Tiger, adult Gaurs will form a circle around their young  to shield them––a defense strategy that usually works.

A big bull Gaur

Blackbuck, a very striking small antelope, was reintroduced to the reserve after having disappeared.

This small group of Blackbucks are the only ones we see.

Indian Boars are also common.

An Indian Boar

Northern Plains Gray Langurs are abundant: they race up and down trees, groom each other, and regard us solemnly.

Portrait of a Northern Plains Gray Langur

(Photo by Jim Shiflett)

A group of langurs

A mother Northern Plains Gray Langur, with child

People in one of our two vehicles even find a Sloth Bear, foraging near them without concern. In addition to Golden Jackals, we are privileged to discover a pair of Indian Wild Dogs, quite a rare sighting.

Golden Jackals are often seen...

but not their cousins, Indian Wild Dogs!

Portrait of an Indian Wild Dog (Photo by Jim Shiflett)

And, yes, the Tigers cooperate! The first afternoon we find a Tigress with her half-grown cub. The cats are extraordinarily beautiful, resting beneath the trees in the late afternoon light.

A Tigress with her half-grown cub, resting after play

The next day, a large male Tiger emerges from the forest on the far side of a lake, bathed in evening light, and walks along the treeline with calm dignity. In all, our group sees four Tigers, over a period of four days in the reserve. It is easy to spot a group of folks who have just seen a Tiger: everyone in the jeep is beaming!

Birds in Sundarban's Mangrove Forest

The birds of Sundarbans National Park deserve their own post. Here in the world's most extensive mangrove forest, kingfishers, waders and storks forage at low tide on the abundant invertebrates.

Among the kingfishers, the rare Brown-winged Kingfisher specializes in mangrove and tidal river habitats along the northern and eastern coasts of the Bay of Bengal.

A rare prize––the Brown-winged Kingfisher

(All photos by Narca)

The Collared Kingfisher is also a species of coastal wetlands, mainly mangroves.

A Collared Kingfisher with its favorite prey, a small crab

 Common Redshanks and Eurasian Curlews are among the shorebirds that overwinter in the region.

Common Redshank in winter plumage

Eurasian Curlew

Spectacular Hoopoes have both resident and wintering populations on the Indian subcontinent. Who wouldn't love a bird named Upupa epops, even if it weren't for that wild plumage? Upupa is the Latin rendition of its call, and epops, the Greek version. Like the Bar-headed Geese, Hoopoes will migrate at high elevations over the Himalaya. Most of the time, they forage on open ground by probing with their long bills, but when insects like locusts swarm, they maneuver easily to feast on airborne prey. Nesting females and young have an unusual defense: they secrete a foul-smelling liquid, which they rub into their feathers to make any would-be predator gag at the thought. This eau de rotten meat may also deter parasites. After the nesting phase, they no longer produce the gook.

Eurasian Hoopoe

 Lesser Adjutant storks stalk about the mudflats, joined by Striated Herons.

Lesser Adjutant

Striated Heron

 Little Cormorants and Ospreys perch conspicuously along the waterways.

Little Cormorant, drying its wings

Ospreys live on all continents except Antarctica! Only five other species of landbirds share such a cosmopolitan distribution, and of those, only the Peregrine Falcon occurs across a vaster range. (The others are the Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, and Barn Owl.)

The familiar, cosmopolitan Osprey

Back in the tangle of the mangrove forest, Oriental Magpie-Robins sing, and Purple Sunbirds skritch.

Oriental Magpie-Robin, an Old World Flycatcher 

and the national bird of Bangladesh

Purple Sunbirds can hover hummingbird-style to feed on nectar, although they usually perch by the flower. Like hummingbirds, they are VIPs––Very Important Pollinators––although they will also rob the nectar on occasion, slitting the flower to feed without pollinating it.

A male Purple Sunbird

Also in the shrubs you'll find Jungle Babblers, doing what they do best––you guessed it––babbling!

Jungle Babbler exploring a dwelling in Sundarbans

Sundarbans: World-Class Mangroves!

Sundarbans National Park protects the world's most extensive mangrove forest––3900 square miles of mangroves!––located in the delta of the combined Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. About a third of the mangroves are in neighboring Bangladesh. Both governments are committed on paper to preserving this important coastal region, but current enforcement of the protections is ineffective.

Mangroves in Sundarbans National Park

"Mangrove" describes overall about 110 different species of shrubs and small trees, which grow in coastal waters, both saline and brackish, in the tropics and subtropics. Generally, different mangrove species have different tolerances of salinity, and are dispersed along a salinity gradient. As seawater rises with climate warming, the salt water advances farther inland along the rivers, favoring some mangrove species over others.

Mangroves are especially good at sequestering carbon dioxide––better than other forest types––and thus they help to buffer climate change. The very fine soil that accumulates around their roots acts as a sink for heavy metals, and so they clean the water and sequester contaminants as well. Oysters thrive on their roots. Mollusks, sponges, shrimp, crabs, and young fish all depend on the shelter that mangroves provide. People, too, depend on the mangroves, not only to support fisheries, but also to protect communities near the coast from the worst ravages of cyclones.

A mudpuppy at the water's edge

Fiddler Crabs, one a male brandishing his great claw

For our visit to Sundarbans with Naturalist Journeys, we were based in Sundarbans Jungle Camp, and explored the region by boat. Each morning began with hot tea, followed by an all-day boat trip in a two-deck boat, with bathroom, kitchen and a rest area below the main viewing deck. Breakfasts and lunches were served on board.

Cabin at Sundarbans Jungle Camp

The view from our boat (which didn't list like the other one!)

Both mornings began with early fog.

Fog in the Sundarbans

Each day we walked along one of the boardwalks suspended above the mangroves, and viewed critters from a tower. The Sundarbans area is famous for its people-eating Tigers, and visitors are well-protected by netting along the walkways. Entire villages are located within the national park, and those, too, are surrounded by high netting in an effort to thwart the Tigers.

Walkway through mangroves, Sundarbans National Park

At one tower, a pair of Brahminy Kites incited bedlam among the Lesser Whistling-Ducks: whenever the kites circled nearby, the ducks would dive, in a striking syncopated water dance.

Brahminy Kites circle over Lesser Whistling-Ducks

Back on the river, a good-sized Saltwater Crocodile lounged in the sun.

Saltwater Crocodile, seeming to nap

Common Water Monitors also sunned on mangrove branches along the waterways.

Common Water Monitor, sunning

On our second morning, we began by carefully searching the banks, and were rewarded when our guides found a beautiful Jungle Cat, resting on the bank with her playful kitten. The pair seemed completely unfazed by our presence. As the mother catnapped, the kitten explored nearby, returning to attack her twitching tail.

Jungle Cats, mother and kitten

A note on the wild travel to Sundarbans from Kolkata (Calcutta): we rode in a convoy of several comfortable taxis. Our very good drivers had to weave Indian-style through all manner of transport, sacred cows, and livestock using the roads––a breath-taking experience for the uninitiated. Cows slowly meandered through heavy traffic, even sleeping in the middle of the road as cars whizzed past. We learned that the penalty for a driver who kills a sacred cow is the same as for killing a person: 7 years in prison. The penalty for striking a free-ranging goat or chicken is to pay the owner of that beast, not only the cost of the animal, but the cost of five generations of that animal!

One of our drivers had grown up in Mother Teresa's orphanage, and had been her driver for 12 years, meeting many of the celebrities who sought out Mother Teresa, including Princess Diana.

Yes, Indian culture is quite different from Western culture. We were reminded anew of that fact when we arrived back at the Holiday Inn, Kolkata, in the midst of a wedding celebration. The men were dressed in pink turbans with long flowing tails, and everyone was dancing at the hotel entrance.

Wedding festivities in India