Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
dismembered and left on a platform for these vultures.” The ossifrage, as this raptor is also
known, drops bones from great heights so they break, giving the bird access to the marrow.
Riding the Himalayan thermals on a three-meter wingspan, the raptor spreads the remains
and releases the spirits of devout Buddhists. Unfortunately for us, descending late afternoon
mist obscured any chance of seeing one in action, so we continued to Punakha.
At dawn the next day we headed north along a dirt road at the juncture of the Mo and
Pho Chu (Male and Female Rivers). Looming over the confluence was the magnificent sev-
enteenthcentury Punakha Dzong, a combined fortress and monastery of grand design. This
dzong, like others throughout the country, once served as the religious, military, administrat-
ive, and social center of the district.
We continued to a quiet spot several kilometers upstream and began scanning the riverbed.
Ibisbills are globally rare, but like other rarities we have encountered, such as the rhinoceros
in Nepal and the Kirtland's warbler in Michigan, they are often easily encountered in a prime
location in the right season, especially when one is accompanied by a skilled guide. “There!”
shouted Sherub excitedly. We all jumped out of the vehicle to take a better look through a
spotting scope. A pair of ibisbills probed the river's stony margins with their long, curved
bills. It is said that ibisbills require clear, fast-flowing water because that is the habitat of the
aquatic larvae of the dragonflies, mayflies, and stone flies the birds feed on. One might guess,
then, that the cause of the ibisbill's rarity was an absence of pristine rivers. Yet the dirty
truth is that a lazy birder can find ibisbills congregating beneath the sewage treatment plants
in Thimpu and Paro. So why this species is rare remains a mystery worthy of much further
study, including an examination of the effects of hydroelectric projects on these birds' abund-
ance and range. Regardless of their status, ibisbills are captivating to watch. Like the fabled
takins, they seemed like another legacy of the Divine Madman's conjuring: in this case, an
ibis's head and bill are mounted on a sandpiper's body that is marked with racing stripes and
detailing to create a most striking bird.
Suddenly we were startled by a raucous shriek. Looking up, we saw a huge raptor with
a white head and brown body—which could only be the rare, globally threatened Pallas's
fish-eagle. A close relative of the bald eagle, it nested in the tall chir pines above the river.
While searching for the nest, we spotted two more eagles in the same stretch. Perhaps they
were coot hunting. The eagles have been known to land on coots and hold them underwater
until they drown before carrying the birds away. But carrion is also a staple food item. The
eagles often nest near fishing villages, where they seize scraps and, like the bearded vulture,
occasionally sample human corpses. Their low numbers are likely caused by their perch on
the top of the Asian food pagoda as large-animal flesh eaters, the jaguars and tigers of the
bird world.
An appearance by the white-bellied heron would have completed our morning's rare bird
quota, but it was not to be. This species is second only to the goliath heron in size but is
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