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Q: who usually rules the skies over the Indian subcontinent’s megacities?
A: Milvus migrans – black kites.
One of the world’s most abundant raptor species (possibly, the most abundant) has proved very adept at taking advantage of the “rubbish” discarded by urban humans.
If one is almost anywhere within a big Indian city, one needs no bird-watching expertise to see black kites; simply look up, and there they are!
”Holy” places are no exception…
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At 3. 50 pm we climbed back into the warmth of the 4WDs and began the drive back down from the Stokes Hill lookout.
At 3. 51 pm we suddenly had very good reason to stop the vehicles, to brave the wintry gusts, and take careful aim with all available binoculars and cameras.
Elevated places are always the best vantage points for humans who like to observe raptors in flight.
The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s most massive raptor, and the most widespread.
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On the Indian subcontinent – especially in urban areas – one particular raptor usually “rules the skies”.
Black kites are especially abundant in Delhi and Srinagar.
Not coincidentally, black kites are generally rather more “opportunistic scavengers” than “majestic predators”.
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Once aloft, a wedge-tailed eagle generally appears “effortless”.
However, on the ground, wedge-tails are quite “clumsy”, and getting airborne again is decidedly (and obviously) effortful for any eagle in flattish terrain.
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The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s largest raptor.
It is one of the world’s largest raptors, and is almost certainly the most abundant of any of the world’s big eagles.
Wedge-tails range across almost all of Australia.
They are, however, very “difficult”, photographically speaking.
Until the fifth afternoon of June 2023 I had never taken a “successful” photo of an airborne wedge-tail.
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Until Charles Darwin observed finches at work in the Galapagos, many members of our own species had believed that tool-usage was a uniquely human ability/trait.
The known list of non-human tool-users is now enormous.
It includes many mammals (not only primates), birds, fish, cephalods, reptiles, and insects.
One of them is an Australian raptor which deploys rocks to crack emu eggs.
You may be surprised to know that the pictured individual did not learn the technique from his or her parents, nor did this captive bird’s human “keepers” train him or her to do it.
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