I WOULD HAVE STEPPED ON IT!!!

Sunday morning, Siddharth, Nikhil, a few others and I went birding. We were going to a place where my luck had always been disgusting, to say the least. It was almost as if all the birds and animals that were known to live there would run for it the minute they knew I was around!

We arrived at our birding spot after a quick half an hour ride, and were blessed with the sight of a mighty, beautiful and absolutely awe-inspiring bird - the steppe eagle. The guy was HUGE, to put it very mildly. Moving on, we came across a few ashy crowned sparrow larks and a few butterflies. And lo behold, our eagle was out, mobbing a kestrel!! The speed at which the eagle flew was simply unbelievable!!! It soared through the skies, maintaining its balance and suddenly it pushed back its wings before it touched the kestrel! Two of the most agile birds were at each other. The drama made us just hold our breath and watch, until the eagle decided to do the disappearing act. :(

The steppe eagle - The Tiger of the Skies.

As we decided to move on, Chirag, one of the people who was with us, came screaming "Chinkara!!! Chinkara!!" The Chinkara, or the Indian Gazelle is a beautiful little antelope that is extremely graceful in every leap and step it takes forth. The chinkara is also an endangered specie, and it was like a dream to see it so close to the city.

We decided to try and see if we could get another glimpse of this magical creature and started walking in the direction in which Chirag led Sid and me - Chirag walking about 50 metres ahead of us. We ambled along, watching a couple of rufous tailed finch larks flitting around, and my concentration was focussed only on the larks. Suddenly, Sid goes "Mridula!!! You almost stepped on it. Look behind. There's a dead monitor." I turned around and was taken aback at the very size of the creature and I was thinking of how I'd probably walked across it. The two of us stood, on either side of the dead monitor, wondering how it could have died, considering there were no marks of blood or anything on it. We must have spent atleast 3-4 minutes pondering over the various possibilities. Then, I suddenly asked Sid, "Are you sure its dead?" He gave a little chuckle and said "Of course it is!!!" and raised his foot about 5 inches over the monitor to prove it to me, when the "dead" monitor "came to life" and darted and ran as fast as its stubby legs could carry it!!!! I gave out a piercing scream that even a train would be envious of, because the monitor ran in my direction, and jumped as far as I could jump and Sid and I were left speechless by this crazy encounter. It took us a good 5 minutes to recover. Initially, when we believed that the monitor was dead, neither of us bothered to click images of it, but thankfully, I did manage to click one, which I have shared below. It is a record shot though...

The monitor lizard! You can see Siddharth's foot in the frame - you can imagine how close were were to it.

This incident just made my day and we were thrilled to bits!! However, a question lay riveted in our minds till now - Howcome the monitor did not feel the vibrations of us coming along and run for it in the first instance?

Moving on after this completely incredible experience, we saw loads of kestrels, one of which hunted before us. We also got lucky with the chinkara and did see that too!!


All in all, it was a tremendous day of birding that I can never forget for the rest of my life. To think that all these magical creatures live 20 minutes from my house is just amazing. However, that also makes me feel the need to save the habitat of these animals so that they don't go away forever.


Kestrel. One of the most agile birds around.

Stunning Tadoba!

Tadoba came as a much deserved break after all the intense (if late) involvement with books. Camping after one whole year was really exciting and it was definitely going to be a fabulous 5 days! My co-instructors on the camp were going to be Mayank, a 14 year old who, actually, was younger than some campers, and Modi Sir.

We were all set for the camp, aware that it was going to be boiling hot! Our first trail was a walking trail where we visited a small pond in the buffer zone of the National Park, on foot. This little lotus pond was buzzing with activity! There were, to our pleasant surprise, 4 or 5 female paradise flycatchers in it! These pretty birds are usually found in bamboo thickets or in places with trees in them. This came as a surprise and I still am curious about this peculiar behaviour!

We also saw pheasant tailed jacanas, openbill storks, a very pretty common kingfisher, waterhens and many other winged beauties over there.

The female paradise flycatcher in the lotus pond

The next morning's safari was one that really won us over. Tadoba has such an amazing variety of birds! It surely is a birdwatcher's paradise... We saw oriental honey buzzards and Indian rollers by the dozen, paradise flycatchers, lesser adjutant storks, racket tailed drongos and many other birdies. We waited at many spots, expecting and hoping with our hearts to see the famous 'tigress with 4 cubs", but of course, we weren't patient enough to wait for too long and we headed back to the stunning Teliya Lake.


There was a massive crowd at the lake and the King himself was the centre of attention. He came, His powerful limbs just ruling over the lake, capturing the very essence of the forest. My heart sprang with joy at the sight of Him, but within a minute, I was almost reduced to tears. I was watching one out of maybe 1000 tigers left in the country... That's less than the number of students in my college. The very thought gave me goosebumps and re-instilled the feeling that we HAVE TO do everything we can to ensure the survival of this animal. He sat in the water, drank a little and settled down to cool himself, playing in the water like a little kid! It sure was a sight my eyes relished!
Livin' on the edge - Literally. When are we going to wake up and help save this majestic, majestic beast? It is very scary to think that there are fewer tigers in India than there are students in my college - think about it.

That evening, we saw the rarely seen chausingha and the muntjac. The tiger was still in the same place in the lake and after a while, walked back into the thicket. We also had a couple of gaur staring into our faces with a totally blissful look on their faces!

The next morning's walking trail was something I will never forget for the rest of my life! We set off on foot and for about half an hour, there seemed to be a lull in the forest. No animals and no birds were to be seen . Then, the guide suddenly signalled us to stop and said "Dholes", in the most calm manner possible. They were heading towards us, a massive pack of 17 of them. For a while, I thought something was wrong with my eyes that I was imagining 17 makkus coming towards me! :D The pack of dholes!

They stopped about 200 metres away from us, gave us ample time to get photos of them and then the alpha male headed then away. We also came across tiger pugmarks and I got a nice opportunity to show the campers how to read them! :)


The last safari was the best! We went into a different range of the forest, namely the Kolsa range and saw a riot of birds!! This place is just a birders paradise! Racket tailed drongos, indian pittas, ashy bellied drongos, flamebacks - it was CRAZY! The highlights of this safari were the jungle cat - a first time sighing for me, and the chausingha!

THE jungle cat!

It was a perfect 5 days in this beautiful beatiful forest. However, it desperately needs to get rid of private vehicles plying in it and also it needs to be managed as well as Kanha and Ranthambhore are. Tadoba, overall, was fantabulous! I can't wait for my next visit there! :)

Oriental Honey Buzzard at the Teliya Lake

White eyes waiting to get a sip of water at a waterhole

Indian Pitta

Spotted owlet at our campsite

Ranthambhore again!

Oh boy! This place sure has me addicted to it :-)

The third visit to this place, disappointing in parts, really breathtaking in some ways, the trip was good, overall. :-) The first thing that we saw outside the national park was something i will never forget despite the apparent insignificance of it - a squirrel :-)

When we first entered the national park, there were the ever present long billed vultures on the cliff at the entrance of the park... it felt great to see atleast a few of this highly endangered specie, that has come under great threat because of the drug "diclofenac" that acts as an anti-inflammatory for cattle. When the cattle dies and the vultures feed on them, it affects them adversely and kills them.

spotted owlet - by far the cutest bird around!

A little later, just outside the fort were a big bunch of mischevious langurs, extremely adorable and HYPER!!!!!!!!!! One of them actually got into a jeep and acted like it owned it! Really cute fellow!

The beautiful lakes of Ranthambhore were just BURSTING with life!!!! There was a bird and deer stampede in them! There were ruddy shelducks, and apparently, there are fewer ruddy shelducks than tigers in Ranthambhore... So those of you who think its too bad I didn't see the king himself, I saw someone rarer than him! :P There were bar headed geese and pied avocets, both first time sightings for me :-)

It takes two to tango - the spoonbills

What was the icing on the cake, though, was the pair of spoonbills that looked extremely adorable when they were looking for food in the water!!! They both did the same actions at the same instant... it was like a well rehearsed performance for us :-) There were also countless sambars and chitals, which look extremely beautiful!

Predator and Prey

On one of the safaris, there were frantic alarm calls from the sambars, a sign that there definitely is a big cat or some predator around. The atmosphere got very tense, the sambar began to hit his hoof on the ground, ears pricked and tail up. Was the King somewhere around? Or maybe the leopard, the ghost of the forest! We were all waiting with bated breath for quite some time, but to no avail :( However, the very feeling that was embedded into us was just crazy! Its amazing how at times, there can be a "lull in the forest", at times its just so full of excitement and activity; sometimes its beautiful and sometimes, scary...

An alert sambar!

This place never leaves me without some hidden gift and this time it showed me one of nature's most magnificent creatures - pelicans! We couldn't get good shots of it, but I did manage to get a couple of record shots :-)

On the other hand, the visit left me a little shaken. There was a lot of plastic in the forest and somehow seems to be losing its charm. Just 3 days before we were at Ranthambhore, 2 sub adult tigers had been poisoned by the villagers, showing that this place, too, isn't a safe haven after all...

All in all, Ranthambhore was stunning! This place deserves to be well looked after so that the mighty, elegant beasts that inhabit do get a chance to survive!


A tiger pugmark! Though we didn't see Him, He sure was there..