Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
On this winter’s day in Rajasthan these demoiselle cranes had it easy.
The altitude was low, the weather mild, and they only had to fly for a few minutes – from a local dam to a nearby village, where food is provided expressly for them – then, back to the dam.
To reach this cranes’ paradise, however, they had to cross the world’s mightiest mountains…and as winter becomes spring they will have to fly over the Himalayas again.
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Long, prominent tail feathers are a key feature of Anas acuta, the northern pintail.
This handsome, migratory, large dabbling duck really gets around.
The pictured individuals were wintering in Rajasthan, before heading north to their breeding grounds in central or northern Asia, or Europe.
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The pictured individuals are within their “proper” range, in Rajasthan.
(see #26 in this “a shining moment” series for details about the very special, particular location)
However, for more than a few years, feral members of their species lived in several suburbs of Perth, Western Australia.
At least three individuals did 160 kilometres “better”, reaching the Wheatbelt town of Pingelly!
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This post’s peregrine – like yesterday’s – was photographed in the Great Rann of Kutch.
The plumage tells me that he was an adult, and his smaller size tells me that he was indeed a “he”, yesterday’s immature bird was rather larger, so almost certainly female.
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Yes, the peregrine really is the fastest animal on earth!
This post’s peregrine falcon is an immature individual.
That description is not a character judgement; the colour of its plumage makes clear that it is a young bird.
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No other large desert is so densely populated by humans.
Its remarkably abundant and diverse wildlife also defies preconceived notions of deserts as “empty” or “barren” places.
Most of the Thar Desert is in northwest India; the other 15% is in Pakistan.
The greater portion is in Rajasthan.
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For many birds, standing on one leg is entirely comfortable, even for extended periods.
When did you ever see any such bird lose its balance?
For Homo sapiens, it is another matter entirely.
However, our ability to stand on just one of our own two feet is very much more telling/predictive than most of us realise.
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Widely regarded as the loveliest deer, the chital has a connection to the cheetah; it is not a predator-prey connection…in the present, at least.
Axis axis was also, in 1803, the very first deer species to be introduced to Australia.
The chital is one of the island continent’s longest-established feral animals.
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…in this instance, over an urban wetland in Gujarat, western India, a few minutes after sunrise on 16 February this year.
Comments closedTo an Australian, peacocks are fabulously “exotic”, but this post’s peacocks were in their own land, where they are an “everyday” sight.
Indian peafowl live in most of the Indian subcontinent’s non-alpine regions.
So, many an Indian human pays them little attention.
To most non-Australians, a kangaroo is a fabulously exotic creature, but many Australians are not the least excited by ‘roos.
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