Mother's Day

 Mother's Day ! 

Environment has its own unique way of manifesting itself, surprising us every now and then with the unexpected. It was on May 15, 2023, I drove down to Thapli region in Panchkula District of Haryana   specifically to see if Jacobin Cuckoo had arrived or not. For the last several years, I have been following the arrival of Jacobin Cuckoo.

 As I reached Thapli, it started raining. Disappointed, I drove back and as soon as I almost reached my home, I got a call from a friend in Thapli that the sky had cleared. I drove back as my instincts pointed that some surprise was awaiting me.

 

I walked up a small hillock in the forested area that offered a good view of the area where Jacobin Cuckoo was spotted by me last year. The path was uneven, and I slipped and fell. I was tired as my energies had dilapidated and did not feel like getting up. 

Sitting there still for almost fifteen minutes, I saw an Indian roller perched on a treetop. The roller would fly down making a hissing threatening sound only to return to the place where it was perching. When I looked deep, I observed that the roller was guarding its nest, a hole in the tree and that a huge monitor lizard was clawing its way up the tree and the roller was trying to shoo it away. 

The Indian roller once again flew into the undergrowth and some commotion followed. The roller flew back to the branch and in its beak was a juvenile of the Bengal Monitor Lizard.  I could not believe what I saw. I had never seen an Indian roller known for its acrobats in mid-air hunting a monitor lizard. I captured the moment with my camera. The Indian roller ate the juvenile lizard.

 I got up and walked away with the documentary evidence that Indian rollers are fine hunters as well. Probably the nest contained her chicks, and this was a female roller that would go to any length to save her chicks like any mother would do.  What a sight to have on Mother’s Day.   However, I felt sad for the adult monitor lizard that lost her little one and was no longer in sight.