OF SONGS AND FABLES-2|NAMERI NATIONAL PARK
7TH JANUARY 2013- 6 AM TO 3 PM -
Hope and fear, they say, go hand in hand. Although hoping to see the White Winged Wood Duck today, I feared the situation in which I would be left having seen one bird too few … a more obvious source of fear(and excitement)was also present. The path we were to take today was covered with tiger pugmarks! (For those who don't know, Nameri and the park adjoining it in Arunachal-Fake, are in fact, Tiger Reserves). The tiger census is going on here, and so far they had found 8 Tigers! And the marks were of this very morning! The imagined attacks by Gaur (there are some 7-800 gaur here , Elephant mothers or Tigers very soon attained a whole new level of grotesque… stories of rampaging male Gaurs, enormous Elephants and lurking Royal Bengals suddenly brought a sitting-around-a-bonfire- almost-human quality to our erstwhile animalistic fear. And we did see a Buffalo herd at around six thirty in the morning, but contrary to our imaginary imageries, it was the Buffalo that fled to the deliberate stomping of forest guard boots. Soon, Bipul Bhaiya (remember my companion during birding trips) and the forest guard were engrossed in 'bhari bharkam' topics; while me and Sushil (the expert-guide) focused our energies on lighter and flight-ier matters…
We had left for the park at around 6 in the morning(the sun had not risen yet) and had found ourselves inside the park by 6.30.(the new-born pale red sun had distanced itself from the horizon by then)With the booted and rifled guard in the lead(to deal with anything un-feathered) ,we aimed to see the wood duck in one of three main 'beels' (small lake like water bodies) I will speak of the results later…for I fear that words after this would go unread. Though one species that does deserve mention are (flocks-after-flocks-after-flocks of) Pintailed Green Pigeons. I was unfortunately only interested till I got a good photo of a delightfully yet strangely permitting one, near the first beel. After that it was just an irritatingly distracting-noisy-flappy bird…
In that beel, to my delight were wading three Black Storks and four Lesser Adjutants. In the distance a flock of Common Teals. But, alas, no, not a single, not even one, of that revered, sung and fabled duck. Although to others it wouldn't seem as a particularly beautiful bird, but for the binocular-ed and lens-ed eye, it is no less than what black diamonds are to jewellers!
To the next spot then! On the way(of significance )-Little Pied Flycatchers, 2 Pallas's Fish Eagles, Grey- capped Pygmy Woodpeckers and a Crested Serpent Eagle. And on the rushing 'Jia Bhorali' river the courtship ritual of ruddy shelducks (or so I was told by Sushil)! One of the highlights! – once upon a time,(but this is hardly a fairy tale, at least in the conventional sense) there were 4 Ruddy Shelducks, while 2 of these had their backs turned, the other 2 had started their ritual, flapping their wings while upright-close to each other; the next thing you know, one of the backs un-turn and it engages in a grueling fight with one the flappers(I assume these two to be males) the flapper manages to make his competitor to go away and resume flapping. The fourth bird continues to keep his/her back turned…
On the second beel, at a first glance there seemed nothing. But just when we were returning dismayed; the characteristic unexcited, yet exciting whisper of "come here, quietly" was heard. Hopefully and fearfully, I crept close to where the whisperer was crouching-at the edge of 'Moniram Beel'… camera settings were frantically changed to the low light conditions of the algae infested pond. And there they were! A group of Lesser Whistling ducks!! Got you! No, not those small orange-brown ducks, but the recipient of the top checkbox of my list .the WHITE WINGED WOOD DUCK! Sitting there 200 metres away! Globally threatened!! In my excitement, my trembling hands led to some very shaky first pictures. But after a few breaths and some silent whoops of achievement, [I still sometimes wonder, as to why the act of just looking at, and sometimes causing disturbance to another creature, is classified as a personal achievement? But I suppose, there is another side (and incidentally mine too) to the story as well; and besides, I can't help it!] I crept up some distance to validate my successful sighting of the 'Deo Hanh' (meaning spirit bird –does spirit refer to optimism or the feared ghosts? - but well named, isn't it?) And after posing for some validatory shots, the spirit flew away. Far away. Too far to pursue. "The spirit duck doesn't come back -for at least a day or two- to where it has flown from" says Sushil.
There is not much to say after this except for the sight of one more absolutely incredible bird (well incredible to me, for Sushil it was as unexciting as the house crow… I can think of many things and people who epitomize unexciting, but …) I was even more thrilled, when I saw a question mark put against it being resident in the bird book! A question mark! Sitting on a high tree, mixed with a flock of Chestnut tailed starlings, SPOT WINGED STARLINGS!! Whatever doubts I had regarding the identification, when I saw the bird with my binoculars… the orange-ish front, glossy back, the white patches seen during flight!! For once, my binoculars were of greater use …the camera with its comparatively small lens (a mere 300mm, against those foot long ones… don't get me wrong, I'm grateful and all. Yet …) gave me only a blob, nothing else.
Also there were some very interesting incidents happening in the forest camp where had lunch, in which a tame gaur, a fly infested (tame again) Sāmbhar deer and domesticated mother and child elephants played the lead roles (forest guards taming wilderness… ironical? or is it in fact their job?) but some other time, for, I have spoken for far too long…
Fables do have a strange quality of coming true. Don't they? Even literally.
Maanav In a really bumpy car.
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