Mammals on Monday 14 - Tiger

During my recent trip to India, I was lucky enough to see five different tigers in a single day during a to slightly longer visit to Ranthambore National Park.  The group I was in saw two large cubs in the morning, two females, a male and same two cubs in the afternoon.

It was an utterly remarkable experience.  The morning sightings were distant and generally through trees, but the afternoon brought very close sightings.  At their closest two or three of the tigers were less than 10m from the open topped vehicles we were in.  People have asked if I found it frightening to have an apex predator that close, with nothing between us and it but thin air.  I can honestly say that I was uttering unbothered by this proximity - which may say a great deal about my understanding of risk - as the tigers seemed totally relaxed and unconcerned by our presence. 

And the more I think about that day, the more I come to understand that it really was an 'out of the box' day that is extremely unlikely ever to occur again. 

Ranthambore National Park covers an area of 1,334 square kilometres in the state of Rajasthan.  The national park is about 400km south of Delhi and was declared a National Park in 1980.  It's probably one of the most famous places to see tigers in the wild.  There are approximately 70 tigers in the National Park.

The tiger in India is classified as Panthera tigris tigris, a species which is now thought to include all tigers except those that occur on in Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra. 

In the past the tiger ranged across eastern Turkey, northern Iran and Afghanistan to Central Asia and from northern Pakistan through the Indian subcontinent and Indochina to southeastern Siberia, Sumatra, Java and Bali. As of 2022, it inhabits less than 7% of its former range and now has a fragmented distribution in the Indian subcontinent, the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumatra, northeastern China and the Russian Far East. 

Approximatley 75% of the world's wild tiger population is found in India, with an almost 3,700 tigers being identified in 2022. The India tiger population has more than doubled since 2006, largely due to protected area management, anti-poaching efforts, and community cooperation.

Tigers have a typical body length of between 1.4–2.8 m with an additional  0.6–1.1 m of tail! They stand 0.8–1.1 m high at the shoulder. The tigers found in Siberian are some of the largest known, and this may be an adaptation to the cold environment in which they occur. Male tigers in India weigh between 200–260 kg, with females weighing somewhat less.

They are an utterly remarkable animal, and it was a privilege to watch them. 

Hope all is well.  SM

 

Wild Bird Wednesday 712 - Black-Throated Tit

The Black-Throated Tit or Black-Throated Bushtit (Aegithalos concinnus) is a small and rather active bird that is found over a large part of Asia, including the foothills of the Himalayas, stretching northern India north-eastern Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, northern Myanmar, China, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I saw this bird in India.  

Although it is a common bird I found it hard to get decent pictures of it due to its fast movement and tendency (as far as I can tell) to like being in the tops of trees!

Even from these pictures you can see that it is a rather charming little bird, with a black throat and a black 'bandit mask' around the eye.  There is considerable variation in the exact details of the plumage of this bird over its range. Some studies, based on DNA rather than plumage, have suggested that some of the recognised subspecies should probably be elevated to full species level.  As I only saw the birds in India, my life list will not be extended by such studies!

This species is not a true tit, being more closely related to the Long Tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) than the 'classic' tits and chickadees of Europe and North America.  

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Hope all is well,  SM

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Wild Bird Wednesday 711 - Peafowl / Peacock

Well, I'm back from a remarkable trip to India, but I am still trying to shake off an annoyingly persistent case of jet lag!  As a result this will be a rather short post this week.

The Indian National Bird is the Peafowl or Peacock (Pavo cristatus) so that seems like a suitable bird to start my Indian posts with.  Technically the pictures in this post are only of Peacocks - which is the specific name for mane Peafowl.  However, and confusingly, the term Peacock is also commonly used for both males and females of the species.  Technically speaking, again (!), females are known as Peahens.

Such issues with naming take nothing away from the beauty of this bird which was surprising common in the lowland parts of my Indian adventure.  It's was a bit of a shock to see them charging across freeways and feeding on rubbish tips when my first experiences of them saw them wandering around stately homes and fancy gardens in the UK!

There have been many theories put forward to explain the makes extravagant tail, with some form of sexual selection process being generally favoured.  However, no definitive answer seems to be forth coming at present.

I took a surprisingly small number of picture of these flamboyant birds during the trip, and to be honest most of the birds we saw were roosting in trees when we were both still half asleep!

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  Cheers - SM

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Back From India.

As some of you may have realised, I was in India for most of the last three weeks. This is my fourth trip to this wonderful, colourful, restless and remarkable country.  But it is the first of these trips that has concentrated more or less entirely on wildlife, rather than on cultural aspects or work.  So, you will not be surprised to know that my blog posts for a while will have an Indian flavour!

However, it's impossible to have any interest in photography and not take at least some pictures of people and places.  Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of what I saw beyond wildlife.

If any of you are thinking of going to India - just do it.

I hope all is well.

Cheers. SM 

Wild Bird Wednesday 710 - Cuban Grassquit

The Cuban Grassquit (Phonipara canora) is a small bird that is endemic to Cuba.  Both male and female birds are about 11cm long

This species is a member of the Tanager family.  This family of birds are restricted to the Western Hemisphere and mainly to the tropics. About 60% of tanagers species live in South America, and almost a third of these species live in the Andes. Most species are endemic to a relatively small area.

According to my sources the Cuban Grassquit can be found in 'subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forests'.  The last of this list of habitats closely matches my experience as I photographed these birds at the side of a farm track near a road! 

The male birds have a black face and breast, while the females are paler around the face, and have chestnut tints in these areas.

When this post publishes I will be very near the end of my trip to India - so hopefully there will be lots of new birds (and other things!) coming along soon!

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Cheers  SM.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 709 - Cuban Emerald

The Cuban Emerald (Riccordia ricordii) is a humming bird that is described as 'pugnacious' in a number of the sources I have accessed.  That's not how I remember this bird - but I was probably just being too excited at being in the presence of hummers to cast a judgement on its behaviour!

Despite its common name this species can be found in a few places outside of Cuba including on Grand Bahama.  These birds were all photographed in Cuba.

As can be seen from a number of these images, this species will readily feed around feeders, and readily uses other human-made habitats including gardens.  Possibly because of this adaptability, this species is not considered to be under threat.

Male Cuban emeralds are between 10.5 and 11.5 cm long, while females are 9.5 to 10.5 cm long. The species weighs between 2.5 and 5 g (0.088 and 0.18 oz).  So while it may be pugnacious it is not very big!

I'd love to get back to the wider Americas to see more species of humming bird - but I think I may have to wait a while.  Meanwhile I will be in the second week of my current adventure when this post publishes.

Hope all is well.  Stewart M.

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