Birds

Vultures

This 1 min. 05 s. video (poor quality, sorry: birds are incredibly difficult to film!) shows white-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis) circling in the sky. Vultures had disappeared from our landscapes for decades. The reason was that cattle were given a pain killer diclophenac toxic to the vultures. Vultures feeding on dead cattle carcasses then died of kidney failure and gout. In later year, the pain killer for veterinary use was banned and the vultures recovered from the brink of extinction. It is an amazing sight to see them circling in groups and as they are excellent flyers, they cover extensive area in the search for food.

Woodpecker

In this 47s video, you see a woodpecker at work. It could be called “use your head”. It is amazing how this little bird goes about his business, removing pieces from a bamboo nest. Looking at how he uses his beck gives a headache. See how he “sits” on its tail which is more rigid than in the other birds, as a lever to give more power to its punches.

About Sigur Nature Trust

Sigur Nature Trust (SNT) is a private non-profit nature-oriented charitable trust registered in June 2005 with the main objective of protecting and preserving wildlife corridors for future generations.

The SNT property, also known as Cheetal Walk, in the Sigur plateau of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India, consists of approximately 30 acres of land (12 ha) protected as a private reserve by E.R.C. Davidar and his children. The land connects the Reserved Forests of the Kalhatti slopes with that of the Sigur plateau. The location and ecological importance of the place were described in ‘Cheetal Walk’ (Oxford University Press, out of print) and in ‘Whispers from the wild: writings by E.R.C. Davidar’, Penguin, 2012.

The Sigur Nature Trust is a small wildlife reserve, a corridor or passage for wild animals in between two villages. Without the SNT, this location may have been developed and the development would have contributed to merging the two surrounding villages, closing access to the Sigur River for wildlife.

More than a reserve, the SNT It is a place to reconcile humans with nature. We have stringent rules for humans, for sure, but no rules for animals – they are at home. We accept them as they are and observe them. Just sitting and admiring, we document astounding behavior, sounds, romance, friendship, techniques. We develop a sense of belonging. We know “them”, “they” know us.