Shikra – Janbaaz Shikari
It was 28th January and its birthday of my husband. We went to Chadva Rakhal on previous day and we saw Indian Paradise Flycatcher first time in Kutch. It was our initial days of bird photography. We were very much excited about seeing the IPFC in Kutch. Therefore, we decided visit again. Pankaj and Sweetu were busy in search of IPFC. I randomly went on another trail, which had dense vegetation, looks pretty isolated and almost vacant- sumsan. I was about to turn when I saw a small raptor with kill beside a narrow water stream. Prey was still alive panting frantically as it’s trapped under firm grip of the watchful raptor’s talons when I saw. I immediately went to call Pankaj to photograph it. He informed me that small raptor is Shikra and its kill is Little Egret, which is rare prey for Shikra. Shikra already started to feast on prey by that time we can clearly see fresh blood of prey on Shikra’s beak. It was amazing to see a small raptor can kill that large prey. Afte...