Sunday, January 1, 2012

Kingfisher in trouble


                                                                                  
- No Yeah Day, Boiled Bean City

 A particular species of the kingfisher, known for its flamboyance and also for fishing in troubled waters, is suddenly becoming scarcer over the skies of the Indian sub-continent.

This species does not have the blue-yellow plumage of the common variety but is of a silvery-white hue with red markings along its body. It is a high flier and is known to move around quite comfortably in rarefied atmosphere. The bird has a penchant for carrying out unpredictable manouvres. In the past this bird has been seen to suddenly move out of its regular haunts and explore neighbouring territories.

This kingfisher is known to forage for and hunt down big fish. Its modus operandi is to lure the fish with all sorts of attractive stuff, only to leave it in the lurch when the fish least expects it.

The fish seem to have belatedly understood these tactics. In the past few months, they have responded with frosty behaviour and have given it the cold shoulder. In other words, the fish have given the bird the bird! Sky gazers have reported sighting this bird circling endlessly over the Indian skies, desperately looking for prey.

With the onset of winter and the sudden drop in temperature, not to speak of the sudden non-co-operative attitude of the enlightened prey, the big bird is not able to maintain its soaring flight. It seems to have been affected by a peculiar malady, known as “Rapid Chil-Blain” (RCB); with all this flying around in the high skies and with little or no food to fuel it, the bird finds itself unable to flap its wings, thereby allowing a sort of dew to build up all over its wings and body, forcing it to fly lower and lower.

The kingfisher has to clear the dew if it has to re-energize itself to survive and take to the air again. The dew so heavily built up makes it almost impossible for this high flier to single handedly clear and it needs to get help, which cannot be had from over the water but down at earth on the sand banks on either side. The kingfisher does not seem to have found any help from any bank.

There is also severe competition from other birds sharing the same air space, like the flamingo, the drongo and other such "go"s.

Avid avian enthusiasts are keeping their eyes wide open and watching with interest the acrobatics being performed.
  
Don't watch this space, watch the skies!





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