My Encounter with the Predator & Nocturnal Birds

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Predator Birds

Once I happened to notice a pale-looking pigeon or dove in one corner of my Backyard. For a pigeon, it was pale gray. I went up with curiosity to greet the bird. It turned around and I was startled to see the face of an eagle on a pigeon’s body. It also was startled to see me and flew away. I questioned the identity of the bird to some of my wildlife photographer friends. One of them replied that it is a Shikra.

The next time I saw the bird in my backyard making an innocent pee pee call looking all around the garden. There was pin-drop silence in the environment. All the birds and small creatures had gone into hiding once the predator arrives. It called for some time and flew away from the backyard.

Shikra 


On one early morning as the birds are having breakfast in our backyard. A Shikra arrived from a neighboring place and landed on a coconut tree branch. I heard some shrieks and squeals from rose-ringed parakeets seated on the adjacent coconut tree branch. 3-4 parakeets and some common mynas flew away upon seeing it. A squirrel too squealed and went into hiding. The shikra was in a helpless position again. It used to visit the backyard every day at the same time. Birds and other creatures were scared to feed in our backyard. As days passed, the shikra stopped coming and the wildlife once again became active in my backyard.

Brahminy kite on tree

Other predators like Brahminy kite, Black Kite, and Black-shouldered Kite are mostly visitors during the Summer and Monsoon season. Brahminy and Black kites are often seen soaring in the sky in the early morning and afternoons. Once I saw a black-shouldered Kite land on the coconut tree branch scaring some Indian Grey Hornbills out there. They fled as soon as it approached them. All the Kites are frequent visitors to the place during the summer season.

 

Nocturnal Birds

 A few years ago, During the night times, I was slightly puzzled by the chitter-chatter sounds around the premises. Perhaps it is a lone Bonnet Macaque chattering. But these monkeys are not too common in our layout. They are sighted very occasionally. I questioned the watchman there about the sound. He replied that it is an owl. Immediately I checked in google search engine and found the answer. Spotted Owlet.

They are the most common of the owlets in suburban areas. I have seen some cute looking spotted owlets on a tree sometimes, but they disappeared behind the branches as I approach them. They even had a nest and reared some young ones on our neighbor’s porch. 

However, most of the nights it spends its time near our premises to catch some prey like Ground Mice. Once a farmworker informed me that one species of rats dwell in the coconut trees. They eat the seeds, flowers, and tiny coconuts before they develop. These rats come out at night-time to explore our terrace and porch. This went on for a year or so. Later,  owls and owlets come into the picture and made our premises a hunting place at night time.

 Sometimes Spotted owlet has another company. Not sure if it is friendly with the Indian Eagle Owl. A large and fierce-looking owl with huge glaring eyes. IEO is more heard than seen during the night times.

I have my bedroom on the first floor attached to the terrace.  Whenever I turn off my lights around 10.30 -11 pm and crawl into my bed, IEO immediately gets active on the terrace and hoots loudly ‘boobo’. Perhaps looking out for prey in the dark. The sound goes louder and echoes. I get more thrilled than being terrified since I believe that this owl is the vahana (vehicle) for the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi.  

It continues to hoot for some time and goes quiet. Once I even peered out of my window to catch sight of it. But no luck. Sometimes it goes to hoot on the nearby trees. 

One morning, as I was putting the clothes to dry on the terrace. I caught sight of a strange-looking creature of tawny and black sitting still on a coconut tree branch. A squirrel on the tree went into panic attacks by its sight and squealed continuously. I was wondering if it was a monkey and went to observe it from a close angle. Suddenly, the creature opened its wide wings and soared into the air noiselessly. It later dawned on me that it was the Indian Eagle Owl.

I have not sighted the Indian Nightjar anytime. But they create quite a clatter around our house at night-time and at wee hours. Once around the wee hours, the nightjar was calling from somewhere close to my room. All of a sudden, IEO came by and started hooting loudly. The nightjar immediately stopped its call.  A few minutes after IEO flew away from my bedroom, the Indian Nightjar continued with its call till the daybreak.

There is another Mysterious call bird in the night which screeches as it flies around our premises. The screech sounds like a naughty kid’s tantrum almost waking me up from my sleep. After some study and research, I found out it is the Barn Owl. It visits our premises regularly during the monsoon season. Perhaps it has a partner around and calls out to it while it flies.

Meenakshi Thopse is a Blogger/writer, working presently in the field of Digital marketing. She started the "Best Courses In Digital World" FB page & Blog to promote Data Science & Digital Marketing online courses to budding job seekers to build the required skills for their careers. Also, she launched Sri Raksha Online shopping Blog to Guide people to buy appropriate products (Daily Essentials) She had worked as an Accountant and as a Manager for more than 10 years.

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