tete-a-tete with an Indian Wolf

It was yet another bird-watching session in Pune outskirts; and again in the arid grassland habitats. Its been around 6-8 months we have been visiting these habitats and we have been pleasantly surprised with the wide variety of wildlife these grasslands have to offer. This time was no different, rather it was our best outing in the grasslands till date as we got blessed by nature to observe the Apex predator of grasslands –  Indian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes).

We started earlier than usual, at 4:30 am this time which ensured we reached the grasslands as early at 7:30 am. The sun was just rising up in its red glory with birds chirping all along. We decided to park our car next to the road and explore a small peak. As we walked on, a beautiful Blue Rock Thrush greeted us along with the usual Larks and Quails. With light being very low, we did not even bother to lift our camera and decided to just observe them as they chirped around. As the sun started turning from reddish orange to yellow, we saw few Chinkara (Indian Gazelle) far away against the Sun.

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As we were clicking them, we noticed that they started moving swiftly. We seemed to be too far for them to get alerted by us, and they did not move away from us, but across. I turned to check the side from where they were moving away and was stunned for a moment as I could see a pair of large grey ears. Looking through the view finder I got a much clear view; and quickly exclaimed to my friends – “Guys.. a Wolf..!”. We just could not believe our luck! Here is the 1st click of the Indian Wolf that I captured.

As the wolf was far away, we decided to approach cautiously. The wolf suddenly began to move and was not moving away but towards us, hence we decided just to stay still where we were. The distance reduced as the wolf was moving across slowly keeping an eye on us. As we were capturing images, a Common Hoopoe joined in the party; who from nowhere moved into the frame…!

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The Indian wolf strolled effortlessly, looking at us on multiple instances. Those stares were nothing but mesmerizing..! The wolf eventually moved across and came up on a small elevated piece of land and stared longer than usual which was the final stare. Observing this beautiful creature for around 10 minutes, we just stood our ground and watched as the wolf kept strolling; this time not to turn around but disappear in the grasslands filled with small shrubs.

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The last 10 minutes had been so eventful for us that we took our time to come back to our senses. It was just 8:15 am and we already had our best outing till date. We explored the placed a little bit more; as we came across a bunch of Chinkara, Common Kestrel, Common Hoopoe and a pair of Southern Grey Shrikes. We came back to the car and started our return journey where in we saw couple of eagles in flight; a Booted Eagle (Pale morph) & a Short-toed Snake Eagle, Red Collared Dove, Common Stonechat and a Rosy Starling.

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We could not help but discuss about the wolf all along the journey. With the 2015 almost coming to an end, this session in December was probably our last one for this year and it did end with a big bang for us..! 🙂 Signing off with the 1st shot of the day.

Thanks for viewing. Let us know in-case of any queries, suggestions, critics and we will be happy to respond.

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– Rudraksha & Shraddha