Date : 27th May, 2010.
Time : Around 11.00 a.m
Myself and Bhaskar Das had just spent yet another morning in search of the ever elusive Cheer Pheasant on the grassy slopes above Vinayak. We birded along the road on our way back to Pangot and decided to stop at a promising looking spot - a clearing in the middle of a pine forest with some shallow depressions filled with turbid water. It looked like an ideal place for birds to come for a late afternoon drink. I hung around the place for a while thinking up a strategy for that afternoon.
Soon enough, as if it had read my thoughts, a tiny little owlet flew in and landed near one of the puddles. It beheld me with its round yellow eyes, contemplated for a while and concluded that I was mostly harmless (apart from having the annoying habit of playing its calls to attract songbirds). It drank some water, observed me some more, bobbed its head up and down and drank some more. And then it dipped its head in the puddle a few times in rapid succession and shook firmly to dry off. Now, a bathing collared owlet ought to be the funniest sight that I have ever come across in nature, and I had to laugh, literally. Anyone in my position would have laughed, and I meant no disrespect for the bird. Regardless, it gave me a short contemptuous look, took another quick sip, and flew off. A record shot is attached.
Another interesting owl incident on this trip was with a Mountain Scops Owl. On the day I arrived at Pangot (25th May) I heard one call at dusk. It responded when I played the call and came to a tree right next to the cottage where we were staying. A few seconds later I managed to catch a glimpse as it flew to another tree. That was pretty exciting for me - having never seen the bird before. So the next evening, armed with flashguns and extenders and torches, me and Bhaskar Das played the call for half an hour. Sure it did respond for a long time, but from some distance and never came any closer. The next day, Adesh Shivkar (who was staying at a resort next to ours) told us how, on the previous evening, he tried to tape lure a Mountain Scops Owl calling from our direction without any success. It responds but never comes closer!
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Cheers,
Arka S
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