KINGFISHER AND DRONGOs

 

Have you my friends observed a Kingfisher flying around, diving to catch his meal and flying back to sit on a branch/perch to enjoy his catch? There are a few distinct phases in which he goes around doing his job.

 

Phase I- This is the ‘fly in’ phase when he approaches his favourite vantage point. Having brushed his teeth or should I say cleaned and sharpened his beak on the branch where he spent the night, he gets into ‘shikari’ mode to go on a ‘recce mission’. His earmarked places are checked during his fly past.

 

He approaches one flying haphazardly. The flight is not a straight line but is full of ‘dips’, He ‘darts’ doing ‘hop, skip and jump’. A fast flap of his wings, then a pause with his wings pressed close to his body making it aerodynamic. In between his shrill and boisterous call announces his arrival. He checks if a perch is clear.

 

Phase II- This is the ‘observation phase’. He sits ‘still’ with his neck and head fixated at a target. The branch may move, the wind may disbalance him, but his focus remains undeterred, like the main gun of a tank or BMP in ‘stabilized mode’. He dances like a ‘kathakali’ dancer, moving his neck from side to side.

 

Phase III- This is the ‘kill phase’. Having identified his prey, it is a quick move to the target, a short hover and then a vertical dive. Once the ‘catch’ is in his beak, a quick exit. It could be over a water body for a fish or frog or a bush for a grasshopper/chameleon. Then fly to that branch from where he had launched that operation. It is rare that he comes back empty handed but that is how it goes.

 

Phase IV- In this phase he ‘showcases his prized possession’. A quick whack to the left and then to the right. Then a pause. After giving his prey a few knockout punches, he hurls his prey in the air to catch it head first.

 

Phase V- Inch by inch the prey goes down his gullet and disappears. Once his tummy is full, he lets out the ‘victory cry’. If his instinct tells him that there isn’t any prey here, he moves on. Off he flies to another perch to rest and digest his breakfast. I watched it live this morning.

 

Because I was outside, he didn’t dare look at my fish. Mr Kingfisher concentrated on a chameleon instead. As soon as I brought the camera out, he went hop skip and jump across the row of houses.

 

Moment the Kingfisher left, came a pair of Drongos. Black as black could be. Their split tails help them keep their balance on swaying branches, as also when they are in air, to take sharp turns while chasing insects. This was the second bird I observed today. Now, I had my camera with me.

 

I am not sure if they were a pair or a mom and daughter team. If the size of their tails is a measure, then one definitely looked like a juvenile. But for a novice like me to make out who was who, was very difficult. It didn’t matter till the time they posed for me.

 

Initially, they came and sat on the Drumstick tree on two different branches, a little apart. Then something happened that they flew to the same branch and started pecking each other. What were they agitated about, I don’t know. The tone and tenor of their sounds and behaviour looked as if they were husband and wife fighting with each other. If that be so, I am sure, I knew who the wife was.

 

Whatever be their conversation, in between one would take a short flight, twist and turn very fast in the air and catch something. I reckon it would be a bee as the drumstick tree is flowering. There are tons of bees which come and collect nectar.

 

The Drongos are smart. They wait for a sparrow or a hummingbird to disturb a bunch of flowers. The bees get distracted and leave in a hurry. The Drongos wait for an opportune moment, take flight and catch their breakfast acrobatically and return to a branch. Maybe, teasing each other that look I got one and you didn’t and their conversations continued.

 

It gets quite interesting when you start observing birds. For a layman like me, to know their gender or age is out of the syllabus question. However, one does enjoy their antics and the way they go around catching prey. There is predictability but one cannot say that for certain.

 

Having captured some good photos, I returned home. What else did I miss? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

https://youtu.be/PIKVDYMHz_Y

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS