Those with the
sharpest beaks
are taught to sniff
out the weak;
especially the ones
with the tiniest
mouths to feed.
In the wild, even the cruellest of circumstances doesn’t seem unfair. When a raptor swoops in to prey on an injured rodent, the scales of justice do not tip in favour of evil. If a flock of parakeets evict a new born woodpecker, it doesn’t constitute to a crime.
The wild is no place for the weak but it only takes what it needs. Funerals are held for neither predator nor prey because death is always organic. An integral part of life, often crucial to the life-cycle of the environment itself.
Birds hunt for prey to sustain their respective species. Very few of them kill for any reason other than to fight for survival. People however hurt each other for far less noble reasons. We kill because we can. We prey on each other to gain an unfair advantage in some part of our lives.
I have seen the Shikra, one of the smallest raptors in India, prey on small mammals and reptiles. Never once has she bitten off more than she needed chew upon. And she always takes some back to her nest, and leaves behind bits and pieces for the scavengers.
In the parts of the world we inhabit, death has more agendas than any form of purpose. In the words of Carter Burwell – “death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help”.
Prey-ing
multiple
wow’s
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This Shikra fellow is really cute 😀 I have run into him/her quite a lot in the neighborhood. It is elegant and neatly preys.
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oh yes they are. it’s also amazing how different they look depending on the season!
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Oh..I never knew that fact! 😀 Thanks a bunch bird guy 🙂
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aha bird guy! totally dig that, comrade, thanks
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😀 You are welcome 🙂
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That’s beautifully said daffy …
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Kitty says thanks yous kind daffys
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Highway accident staring = get a life people/mind your own business/your going to crash into the car in front of you/ your not a journalist/ no it’s not going to jazz up your otherwise boring dinner conversation
Nature = Reminds us that we are actually animals, and driving cars is somewhat unnatural, also what you said ❤
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Hahaha yeah pass the hash browns please is what some people seem to obsess about.
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bird-man and a word-man
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love it! danks divya
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I myself have never had the same trouble IDing Shikras… simply by virtue of the fact I’ve only seen it once, in Ranthambore. Then it was largely blue. But the number of times that – for another bird species or butterfly or whatever – I’ve posted in a FB group or something with excitement, imagining a rareity, and instead been confronted with a very common identification, is totally relatable. Ah well. One never stops hoping. 😉
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Intrigued
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Much obliged!
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Nice article and rich information. Thank you so much
For me life is cruel most of the times.I have to accept the fact that that is the ‘Nature’ of Life.The cruelest creature on the Earth is the so called Human being,ever greedy and ever selfish.
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I completely agree. I don’t like it when predatory animals are thought of or depicted as evil.
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Yeah totally, it’s akin to judging a non invasive tree for sucking dry the water!
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