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Project Noah Nature School
Glareola maldivarum
Amazing behaviour shown by this bird which I have seen for the first time. When they saw me, they started flying in circles, then they dive bombed to the ground. Raised their wings as if threatening me not to come near. So I lay in a crater far from these birds and saw that they were sitting in some holes in the ground. There were many such holes around. I thought they were nesting and since it mentally disturbs the birds if disturbed during nesting I opted to stay far from them and click some pics. I did get the chance to examine some holes nearby and did not find any eggs. I guess they were preparing to nest.
Seen at Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary.
As per a link shared by Malcolm (http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/search?mod... "Both sexes incubate, and nest-relief is attended by a very rigid ceremony. The male bird, arriving to take over duty on the nest, dips low in flight over the sitting female. To this she responds with upstretched head and a harsh call. He then alights about two feet from the nest, instantaneously bowing to her, beak to ground and tail stuck high into the air and wings momentarily poised above his back. The hen meantime rises from the eggs, picks up small pieces of Salicornia or small flakes of mud and throws them over her back on to the nest. She then walks off and he on to the eggs." Which confirms what I saw was the nesting behaviour of this bird. For more details on this bird, please see my previous spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/195...
Spotted on Apr 5, 2013
Submitted on Apr 9, 2013
72 Comments (1–25)
Thanks a lot Will & Stian!
Fantastic pictures Satyen, a really beautiful bird!
very nice spotting, and a belated congrats too, I am sorry I missed this when it was SOTD
Thanks Liam! I am happy that you liked it :-)
Wow, wonderful spotting, Satyen!
Thanks Luis!
Congrats Satyen!
Thanks Ajwerko!
Awesome series!! Very deserving SOTD!!
Thank you Fyn, Jacob, Antonio and redyellgrn for your kind words.
Totally deserving of Spotting of the Day!
I know it from the first time i saw it,this spotting was a SOTD material :-)
Congrats again Satyen my friend,it's a amazing series,perfect photos and very good info too,thanks for sharing
Congratulations on spotting of the day! Wonderful!
Awesome spotting, congratulations SatyenM!
Thank you Gerardo and Carol!
Congratulations! Enjoying all your photos!
Congratulations my friend super great series :)
Thanks EnvUnlimited and Neil. Neil, it was thanks to Malcolm that I could confirm what the behaviour meant.
Satyen, congrats on Spotting of the Day honors. Thanks for sharing these brilliant photos and the story/notes with us. Nice job with this spotting, very thorough. I love it!
Thanks Lauren and Kranti for your support :-)
Oh great !! Congratulations ..... I felt it yesterday ...
Congratulations Satyen. I saw the selection for SOTD and when I went to see, was amazed at the beauty of these birds and your story. Lovely.
Thanks a lot Joshua.
beautiful story and spotting thank you for sharing and congrats!
Thank you Sachin.