The monsoon was yet to arrive in Kabini, but the passing clouds carried the promise of rains.

I was on a vehicle safari and our vehicle was decently packed for the evening drive. The forest was verdant, and the foliage, interestingly, was getting thicker on account of some intermittent showers. Our vehicle moved slowly so as to brighten our chances of sighting wildlife.

During the journey, I spotted a beautiful bird perched on a broken branch. This caused me to excitedly call out to the guests and point it out to them. The guests, as always, were awe struck during our stops. It is amusing to watch them looking at us with a child-like curiosity.

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

This time, we sighted a massive bird called the Crested Serpent Eagle, perched tightly on a branch. Its eyes, however, rolled so that it could catch sight of the slightest movement on the ground.

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

The bird sighting, fortunately, was close to the jeep track. Such a close sighting was possible because the weeds and the bushes along the track are regularly cleared by the forest department. This is done with the objective of facilitating wildlife sightings. The bird being an eagle, a bird of prey, also makes use of this opportunity to look for its prey. This majestic creature, interestingly, has snakes, lizards and other small birds on the ground on its ‘menu’.

The perch was well-chosen as it contained no leaves, which could obstruct the eagle’s view. The guests were happy to spot this bird. They were thrilled when I told them that the bird derived the name Crested Serpent Eagle from the fact that it preyed on snakes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Birds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.