The Invisible Bird

An Indian Nightjar clicked by Mr. Rick Toor at Sattal,Uttarakhand.

 Nightjars are mysterious birds. They are    
 nocturnal birds which live a secretive            
 lifestyle. Most people only consider owls as  
 the birds which rule the nights and consider  
 them to be the only nocturnal birds but what
 they do not know is that owls share their
 nights with another nocturnal species, the
 Nightjar.

 Nightjars are medium sized bird with long
 wings, short legs and a very short bills. They
 mostly sit flat on the ground or can be seen
 perched on dry and hardwood tree branches
 with their outstanding camouflage which
 blends perfectly with the surroundings
 making them extremely hard to spot during the day. I, myself on one occasion passed by the side of a Jungle Nightjar and not knowing it was in front of me, it suddenly flew off with great speed leaving me startled but enough to see by the colour that it was a Jungle Nightjar. All the nightjars come into the order of "Caprimulgiformes" which have been divided into three subfamilies: the "Caprimulginae", the typical nightjars with 79 known species, the "Chordilinae" or Nighthawks with 10 known species and the Eared Nightjars are placed in a separate family called "Eurostopodidae" (*this family has not yet been widely adopted) with 9 known species.

In many European languages, the Nightjar is known as the ‘goatsucker,’ with the genus name "Caprimulgus" deriving from the Latin for ‘milker of goats’. It was believed that Nightjars fed from goats due to often being found in close proximity to livestock. In reality, this insectivorous species would have been searching for prey associated with domestic animals. Others believed the calls of the Nightjar were the sound of witches hiding in the bushes.
The main diet of these peculiar birds consists of insects in which they prefer moths and other large insects. They can fly very long distances for feeding as it requires a lot of insects to fill its appetite and has been recorded to go until a 6km radius of its nesting site to find food.

Nightjars lay one or two eggs in small clearing soft dense forest on bare ground . Some nightjars surround their nest with some twigs and leaves while some just lay them out in the open and sit upon them so that the light which reflects off eggs doesn't attract predators. The nightjar being a master of disguise will not fly away if its incubating its eggs as it believes that it won't be seen and sometimes you may walk by its side and it will remain their to protect its eggs.
Nightjars become quite active during their breeding season and you may hear their calls near their feeding and nesting areas in their habitat starting from dusk and sometimes continuing till next morning.
Road Kills is one of the major reason of decrease in population of this species because of its habit of resting and roosting near roads. Once, I also saw a Savanna Nightjar sitting in the middle of the dirt track which leads to my farmhouse in Ropar, Punjab. There is an uncertain amount of data about the population of this species due the difficulty of finding and identifying this species of birds.

In the past I have seen quite a few different species of nightjars and nighthawks but the first time I tried to get its photo was when I went to Kalesar National Park, Haryana on 18th April, 2019. After a full day of birding near the Yamuna river we went to rest in the Kalesar forest rest house for the night and about near 7:00pm I heard a peculiar sound I had heard before, besides the house. I recorded the sound and sent it to a fellow birder. We both agreed that it was the call of a Large Tailed Nightjar. I was very happy  knowing that it was Large Tailed Nightjar as I had never seen this particular Nightjar before. I asked the forest guard to get me a torch so that I can see the bird which was extremely close in the the undercover of bamboo and sal trees. As soon as I got the torch I went down to the porch of the house and set up my tripod and camera with the torch. There was a steep cliff which went down to the Yamuna river bank and had a lot of thick branched trees. I scanned the area with my torch and as soon as the light form my torch hit the nightjar, its eye started glowing like a ruby and I recognised it. I took my camera and tried to focus on it but due to low light I got very dark and shaky shots and only star a few seconds it flew away leaving me disappointed. after a few minutes I heard its call again and located on another far away tree in thick underbrush. I could see its eye glowing under the torch light but still I couldn't take the photo due to thick bushes. We stood there just looking at it from a distance of 15-20m and hearing its loud and continuous call for about half an hour. We were really tired and just as we were about to go back, the nightjar astonishingly came and sat just in front of us and I was extremely amazed. I focused my camera on it as fast as I could after which I got many clear shots while it was calling. After I got my proper clear shot it flew away as if it had specially sat upon an open perch for me. I was filled with joy, as it was the first time I had clicked a Nightjar though I had seen it many times before and I hope to see more of these mysterious birds in the future.

The Large Tailed Nightjar I clicked at Kalesar National Park..

The Royal Falcon

The photo just before it launched itself after landing.

Falco peregrinus peregrinator. On 13th April, 2019 a surprise waited for me in Nagar Van, Chandigarh. A falcon flew besides me while I was photographing a Wood Sandpiper. I assumed the falcon to be a Peregrine Falcon which is a yearly winter visiter to Nagar Van. It went and sat on the transformer tower which is its favourite location and assuming it to be a Peregrine Falcon I ignored it, as I had seen it before. After some time we saw it flying once again and assumed that today the falcon was hungry and it wanted to hunt. So, to witness this act we went close to the tower and saw it sitting on the absolute top of it which was about a 70m above the ground. We waited for about five minutes and to our surprise the falcon dived towards the forest canopy in such great speed that I couldn't even take its photo. I was disappointed to see it disappear into the canopy without getting a dive photo but once again to our surprise it flew in from behind our backs towards the tower in high speed and this time I was ready. I focused my camera on the flying falcon and kept pressing the click button.While I was continuously clicking the photos the raptor was about to sit on the tower but immediately as it landed, it took off the next second as it saw Black Drongo sitting on top of the tower but then again, instead of going after the drongo it came back and sat on the tower. All this happened just only within a matter of 20 seconds and this time I managed to capture all this in my camera but, when I reached home and looked at the photographs I was extremely astonished. I looked at the falcon closely. The raptor which I assumed to be a Peregrine Falcon was actually a Shaheen Falcon, which is a South Eastern sub-species of the Peregrine Falcon. To confirm my hypothesis I sent the photo to a senior and experienced birder who told me that it was indeed a Shaheen Falcon and also gave me certain points and facts about it. I had seen the Peregrine Falcon a lot of times before, but his was the first time I saw a Shaheen Falcon. 

The taxon was formally described by Carl Jacob Sunderval in 1837 as a separate species, Falco peregrinator, based on a juvenile specimen caught on a ship between Sri Lanka and the Nicobar Islands. Its taxonomic status as a subspecies of Falco peregrinus has been controversial for several years. The Shaheen Falcon is mainly found in India and is a small and powerful looking flacon with dark upper parts and a gorgeous rufous belly. This appearance has made it a favourite amongst falconers and it is one of the most traded raptor due to which it requires for more conservation. People infiltrate its nest for collecting its eggs and selling them for trade due to its reputation amongst raptors which has now resulted in different nesting behaviour of this bird, building its nest away form human vicinity. A lot of information on this raptor in generally lacking and much more research is required including taxonomic studies and its population status in India and China. This raptor is usually solitary and mates for life. Its breeding season varies in the Himalayan Foothills between March and May and sometimes upto June. The Shaheen Falcon is a deadly hunter and preys upon mostly birds such as partridges, doves, quails, swifts, parakeets and it has even been recorded while hunting ducks. The falcon sits on high perch selecting a perfect prey and scanning the hunting area after which it dives upon the selected prey with a speed normally upto 320km/h inserting its talons inside the other bird and killing it upon impact due to its high speed. This raptor is the fastest flying bird and its dive speed has been recorded to reach 389km/h. The name of this flacon is derived from Persian which literally means "Like a King", "Worthy of a King", "Majestic"or "Kingly" making this bird a favourite amongst royals.

The aerial high speed shot while it came behind our backs.

Population Distribution of the Shaheen Falcon

The Northern Goshawk

Raptors fascinate me. This particular raptor has recently been a topic of debate. I wanted to go to Sattal, Uttarakhand for birding but instead of going to Sattal my father took me to Dagshai, Himachal Pradesh on 23rd March,2019. It was the first time I saw the majestic Northern Goshawk in India. I suddenly heard a lot of Himalyan Bulbuls flying away in an alarmed manner and in came the Goshawk and sat on a half cut down tree in front of me. It landed in a majestic manner with its wings open and its large and bulky talons grabbing onto the perch. It was clear that it had failed to catch its prey and after only a few seconds it flew away and dissapeared to the next perch in search of a new prey. I got five shots of this beautiful raptor and immediately identified it as a Northern Goshawk. According to me it was a Northern Goshawk because it had a clear supercilium, orange-yellow iris colour, black and white coloured barred chest, thin yellow eye ring in front of its eye and its large size. When I reached back home I posted my photo on Facebook, Instagram and some other social media platforms as it was a rare record from this particular area, but some people on Facebook didn't seem to agree that the raptor that I saw was a Northern Goshawk and started a long and hard debate upon this topic. The so called raptor experts on Facebook were not giving valid points and claimed it to be a Eurassian Sparrowhawk. I did not agree with them as the photo that I got didn't show the front part of this raptor which made it tricky to identify, but I saw its front and noticed its size because the field inputs of the person who saw the bird are much more valuable than the bookish knowledge of these people. Still the people on Facebook didn't agree with the fact that it was a Goshawk so, on 29th March, 2019 I set out to find this raptor again and get some shots from the front. Even my father and mother encouraged me to find this bird once again and told me that I should always believe in myself. I went to the same place and took Mr. Rick Toor who is a great birder and a close friend of mine, along with me. We both saw a raptor circling over the same place and got a flying shot from the front. When I went back home I processed the photo and saw that it was also a Northern Goshawk. Later that day I posted the photo on Facebook to show that the raptor was indeed a Northern Goshawk, but still the same people debated against it. This time Mr. Rick Toor shared his opinion and told the people that it was a Northern Goshawk. He told those people in strict manner that they shouldn't criticise a young birder (Karmannye) and target him due to his young age. Thanking Mr.Rick for his support and ignoring all the previous debate I sent the photos to some real raptor experts. The next day I got a reply from the raptor experts that the bird was in fact a Northern Goshawk. Later I came know that most of the people who tried to make me believe that this bird was a Eurasian Sparrowhawk instead of a Northern Goshawk had never seen both of these raptors in the field and were sharing points and photos from Google instead of giving their own observations.

 The pointers which I have observed in the field and obtained from raptor experts are-

1.It has a dense and clear supercilium.

2.It has orange-yellow iris colour.

3.It shows six wing fingers while flying.

4.It has three tail bars under its tail.

5.It has a bulky are large build.

6.I saw the bird from all angles in the filed while the people on Facebook are merely commenting on what they see in the photo and none of them have seen a Northern Goshawk themselves.

The points given by the people debating on Facebook are-

1.It is small in size. Though they never saw this bird in the field and can't compare the size.

2.It legs are thin. The legs appear to be thin due to the photo angle but they didn't see its massive talons.

All this debate taught me that no matter what a person tells you or makes you believe something against your will is not always right and sometimes you should trust your inner instinct. In the end this raptor was confirmed as a Northern Goshawk which put an end to all the futile debate on Facebook.

The photo from 23rd March

The flying shot of 29th March