The Brown Fish-owl was a bird, that used to be seen regularly in the campus when I first joined the school in 1998 and until 2009. These owls also nested here and raised their broods when conditions were favourable.
I have seen the juveniles sitting on the tiled roof of our neighbours' house and calling early in the mornings and I used to stealthily watch them from our terrace, lest they flew away.
Then by 2009 we saw less and less of the birds and finally they were no longer seen in the campus. The valley and neighbouring areas were seeing long stretches of dry years with scanty rainfall and with the water sources drying up, the birds left.
Last month Tanuj Shah alerted me about his sighting of a large owl in what used to be the regular haunt of this bird thirteen years ago! A visit soon after failed to produce the bird.
Last morning, finally I spotted the bird as it flew out of a tree and landed on a tree not too far away from the nesting tree of a pair of Shikras. The Shikra pair kept harassing the owl but the bird sat and posed for a few frames before taking off and moving away from the Shikras.
It was indeed one of the most satisfying moments ever in my entire birding career. Yes, seeing new species can be highly exciting. But that is nothing compared to the return of a species after such a long absence. It is important for birders to keep monitoring their favourite habitat patch to record changes in bird diversity and populations. I am glad I have nearly completed 24 years here in Rishi Valley and am learning a lot of things about birds and their relationships to their habitat as well as each other!
- Santharam
9th March 2022