Wildlife Week - Owls

 Owls....

Owls. Indian superstitions call them unlucky but then again, they are Goddess Laxmi's vahana. I find them to be fascinating creatures. Absolutely magnificent heirs of the night. Their gaze is piercing. Extremely skilled creatures, owls can turn their heads 270°, adding to the fact that they are nocturnal. I feel that we are blessed to have many species of Owls around us, to be surrounded by such unique and skilled birds! I loved all of them equally from a fairly young age. I had my first encounter when I was 9 with a beautiful Barn Owl. Spot breasted munias were nesting in my window and were soon to be victims of that owl. Seeing me (I blame myself) the owl flew away, into the darkness. 

Now I have a favorite. The Indian Eagle Owl. Tall, with orange piercing eyes, I find it to be beautiful. A second favorite of mine is the Brown Fish Owl who just looks mad and as if it has crazy ideas going on in its mind. It is my greatest desire to see an Eagle Owl up close, in the wild. Owls can't exactly be spotted near ground level. They are seen at their best in the night, but it is most definitely possible to see them in daytime. The only requirement is an expert's eye.

 Another encounter of mine was in the jungles of Tillari (Sindhudurg, Dodamarg Taluka). Mr. Pravin Desai (the expert) told us that there was a pair of Brown Wood Owls living right in a specific part of that jungle. Of course, my parents and I were more than ready to go visit. And we did. The search was starting to seem quite hopeless, so we decided to dive deeper. My parents stood behind and I went ahead with Pravin dada. We were now off the usually trodden-over path. And then I saw it. A lovely sight. A big brown bird perched high up in the trees staring at us, head turned, with curious eyes. A Brown Wood Owl. All of this sounds simply exaggerated but feelings always do. Of course, it looked much better upon closer inspection, with the help of binoculars. While doing so, we even discovered a Myristica Swamp which has recently gained a fair bit of fame.

I feel that Owls are quite mysterious, we have not studied them enough. And even more, it's hard to spot them and most of us want to see wildlife as we please. We hardly realise that searching for wildlife is a part of the deal. Wildlife week is not just about asking people what they know about it, or telling people what we know about it, it's about spreading the awareness of how others should know more about wildlife.

Swara Chandorkar

I am really happy to say that this article got published in Times Of India NIE.

Yay! Go Owls