(delhibirdpix) The Story of an OWL family #3

Hi Guys,

Species:- Indian Eagle Owl

Location:- Pune Outskirts

Date:- 9th January, 2011 to 3rd March, 2011

Equipment:- Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM

We have been observing a site for these beautiful and ferocious birds for the past few years near Pune. It was absolutely thrilling to see the 3 new born chicks(see image 1) with a gap of about a day each at the nest one fine January evening. The next day I carried my camera along to click a few record images. The adult male would sometimes kill and hide prey in one fixed spot on the cliff face adjacent to the nest in the afternoons from where the female would collect it a couple of hours later and feed the chicks. Later, the female too started hunting and hiding the prey at the same place. The male seemed to have left the site when the chick were about 3 weeks old. One of the interesting preys was the Indian Gerbill (see image 2).

As the days passed by, the chicks grew up and slowly started exploring the cliff on which the nest was. The 2 older chicks dominated the kills so much that the youngest chick died early probably of starvation and disease(???). Every evening the female was mobbed by about 50+ crows for about an hour as she defended her nest(See image 3). Unfortunately, the crows eventually got the better of her and we found her dead and eaten by crows sometime around mid feb.(See image 4) Over the next couple  of weeks, the remaining 2 chicks who by now had just about learned to fly short bursts were also found dead and eaten by crows.

It is very saddening to have lost this wonderful species from a pristine habitat. However, since it was all a part of the natural cycle, I am hopeful that some owls from nearby nest sites will re-populate this one in the coming years.

Note:- All images have been clicked from a considerable distance so as to avoid any disturbance to the bird. They are all large crops of the original. They are solely for the purpose of documentation of behaviour. Most of the observation on site was done from even further away by means of binoculars and a spotting scope.

-Regards,
Rohan

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