Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has a charm of its own if we aren’t obsessed with seeing particular animals, we said. We would definitely see some animals – at least deer – and some birds. It is a forest after all.
Very diffidently, a friend admitted that she could recognise nothing. I assured her that I could identify all of five birds with any kind of surety – and that list included the crow, sparrow and mynah. She laughed at me and all but said that she did not believe me. I told her that one other bird I could identify was the chestnut-headed bee-eater. She looked at me with some measure of awe. It seemed pretty fancy to her that I could identify a bird with such a specific name.
Two hours in the forest and we were all laughing about it. Of course we could identify the bee-eater! You know the best part about the chestnut-headed bee-eater? It’s so easy to identify, and when you say it, it sounds like you are a professional bird-watcher. It’s like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – if you say it loud enough, it always sounds precocious.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Chestnut-headed bee-eater.
Both give me the same feeling of triumph!
hmm, first of all…if it is not evident as yet..I’m your fan! 😀
Long comments allowed? 😛
S and I went whale watching in San Diego!
I completely understand the anxious expectations that people would have about viewing tigers..or having ‘good’ animal sightings in the sanctuary.
I, for one, was like an anxious teenager waiting to meet an elusive celebrity and was so worried that this celebrity would refuse to appear!
Anyway, we did see whales on the day we went!
These were gray whales ( 15 metres…40 tons!) which migrate from the Arctic waters.
The swam at a distance, spouted, and did some tail flukes (my heart pounds as I relive the experience , while writing this! )
While that so thrilling, you can’t feel satisfied! You want more! I wished that they would come much closer, hoped that they would breach out of the water, but alas, the celebrities were in a mood to tease us!
We also had a pod of common dolphins that that were swimming and frolicking right beside our ship!
Well, atleast I had whale (and dolphin!) sightings, since there are days when none appear.
And back home, inspired by some friends, I started leaving bird seed on my balcony. After a couple of months a northern cardinal (a brilliant red North American songbird…a real version of the angry bird!) started visiting as well as a couple of other types! You can bet I felt like a professional bird watcher, when I identified the calls and pointed them out to other friends who were visiting!
🙂
Wow! That sounds simply fantastic!
Of course, long comments are allowed! Whale-watching is on my list of things to do now!