Short-toed Snake Eagle

It's my favorite raptor.The first couple of sightings of this bird was largely responsible for my addiction for birding.Before that i was more or less the garden variety bird-watcher.

I vividly remember the sightings.The first one was during the Monsoon of 2005.The local birding club had organised an outing to Ramanagaram, which is about 50 kms from Bangalore.It's famous for the rocky hill ranges, that extends all the way to Bellary in N.Karnataka.

The boulder-laden hills are supposedly some of the oldest hills in the world.Some of them are quite famous and sought after amongs't the rock climbing community.Movies like Passage to India and Hindi movie "Sholay" was shot here.Our destination was a hill called Ramadevara-betta (Lord Rama's hill in Kannada), a few kilometers off the Bangalore-Mysore highway.

Like most hills in India, this one also has a temple on the top.Our plan was to bird till we reached the temple, break for a snack and get back.The walk provided us with decent sightings of red-vented bulbuls,common ioras,plain and jungle prinias, and a single sighting of a yellow-throated bulbul, its an enigma , and most sought after by birders, and others.A fly-past and displays of a Shaheen Falcon(Falco peregrinus peregrinator) was enjoyed by one and all.

I found the temple area most interesting, it's built below a huge granite-boulder which juts out at an angle and one can walk behind the temple and climb the boulder.It's a steep climb but a short one and with chains for support.I found this quite strange, literally standing on the idol.

Once on top, the view is breath-taking.It's that time of the Monsoon where the cold wind blows strong. While enjoying our breakfast,someone drew our attention to a huge bird flying towards us.It's a raptor alright, i had no clue about the species.It was almost below eye-level.To see a raptor below eye-level is quite rare, almost all the time, you see them from below.

This particular bird instead of flying or gliding, started hovering!.Just imagine a huge bird hovering like a bee, it must be energy sapping just to maintain lift, in spite of using the wind direction.The body is almost parallel to the ground with only the wings flapping.I could clearly see the light brown wing-feathers and back, and the silvery white underparts through my binoculars.For such a huge bird to hover, with it's sight fixed on a potential prey,the sight is special.

I hadn't seen or heard anything like that before and i had no clue what the bird was, frankly i didn't care for a name.Someone excitedly said "Short-toed Snake Eagle".I enjoyed every second of the show, which lasted for maybe 10-15 seconds.

I've had better sightings of the bird since, have made some really good images too, like the ones below, but that day will always be special.Circaetus gallicus is the only Eagle in mainland India which hovers.

Hovering, a record shot

Made this image a few months back, the only time i've seen this bird perched.

This is how we see raptors most of the time.