Bonelli’s & the Chinkara – A spectacular wildlife moment..!

Nature has its own way of things.. and we did come across one such unique wildlife moment during a recent bird-watching trip. It was a regular bird-watching outing on a weekend and with Amur falcons on their migration path to Africa, me and my friend Sandip were off to Pune-outskirts to try our luck. We did not see the Amur falcons; but what we saw was something to be cherished for life.

We started earlier than our usual time, reaching the outskirts by around 7 AM. We parked our car next to the road and started exploring by foot. As we walked away from the main road; we started seeing a good number of Chinkaras (Indian Gazelle). The scrubland outskirts of Pune does have this species in decent numbers. Soon we were able to spot a raptor; a Bonelli’s eagle to be specific. The eagle was perched on a small rock; more than 100 meters away. As we approached the eagle cautiously, we suddenly noticed that the mighty eagle took off and flew towards us; and perched on a big rock. Luckily there was a big rock near us as well, as we got behind it to hide. What followed next; was a spectacular moment that we was able to capture. I will let the images do the talking.

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Just as we were thinking that we got lucky to get a Bonelli’s eagle and a Chinkara in single frame; there was more to it as a Pallid Harrier approached from the left side of Bonelli’s eagle and tried to move it off its perch; not once but twice..!

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So we saw the Pallid harrier, Bonelli’s eagle and Chinkara together and did manage an image or two with all of them in the frame. However there was more to follow. The Chinkara was calling profusely since the moment it came near the Bonelli’s eagle. It kept calling and moved in close enough till the eagle took off. It even chased the eagle for a couple of seconds. And to know the reason behind its behaviour; see the images below.

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So that was it. There was a reason behind a Chinkara and the Bonelli’s eagle being in such close proximity; and it was the Chinkara fawn. The Bonelli’s eagle had set sights on the Chinkara fawn which was behind one of the rocks right from the start; however as with all mothers, the adult Chinkara was protective and even took on and chased away the mighty Bonelli’s eagle. What still remains as a mystery for us is the behavior of the juvenile Pallid Harrier. It may have been just a mobbing attempt or who knows; may be something else. Nature surely has it own ways :-).

Apart from this lovely moment, we did get to see a good number of birds. Here are some of the images we were able to capture.

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ebird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25747124

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– Rudraksha & Shraddha