Continuing my series on the eagles of Kumbhargaon, this second post is about the Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga), seen in the shallow wetlands area around Bhigwan and the River Bhima. This area is vast and unique with diverse habitats ranging from the shallow wetland ecosystem of the Ujni backwaters to the surrounding rich farmlands and dry deciduous scrub forest with interspersed grasslands. 

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Kumbhargaon is a nondescript village in the Satara district to the south of Bhigwan, a quaint, small and rugged town on the border of the Pune and Solapur districts in Maharashtra, in India. But during its mild winters, Kumbhargaon, Bhigwan and its surrounding areas become the home of countless migratory birds making it the “Bharatpur of Maharashtra”. The area around Bhigwan and the River Bhima is vast and unique with diverse habitats ranging from the shallow wetland ecosystem of the Ujni backwaters to the surrounding rich farmlands and dry deciduous scrub forest with interspersed grasslands. 

This blog on the Steppe Eagle is the first of a three eagle series from Kumbhargaon.

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The red-faced liocichla (Liocichla phoenicea) is a species of bird found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Northeast India, Nepal and western Yunnan. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

A brightly-coloured medium-sized laughingthrush it is shy and difficult to see; and moves through dense undergrowth of tropical broadleaf forest singly, in pairs, or in flocks. Its song is a short but beautiful bout of whistles and warbling.

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The Eurylaimidae are a family of passerine birds that occur from the eastern Himalayas to Indonesia and the Philippines. These strikingly patterned broadbills of Asia are forest canopy birds, often revealed only by their throaty staccato calls. The bold contrasting swatches of black, yellow, and red or green in their plumage often extend into a very large and brightly coloured blue or silver bill, creating a visual impact to equal that of any other passerine in these forests.

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The Steller’s Sea Eagle is one of the most remarkable birds I have seen. Though familiar in summer to native peoples of the Russian Far East, of the Aleutian Islands and even south-west Alaska, & in winter to those in northern Japan, it was unknown to western ornithologists until the late 18th century.

Standing a metre tall, with a wingspan approaching 3m & weighing as much as 9 kg, it is arguably among the largest eagles in the world (and certainly one of the biggest three or four).

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The presence of a tiger changes the jungle around it, and those changes are easier to detect. Bird calls darken, small deer call softly to each other. Herds do not run but drift into shapes that suggest some emerging group consciousness of an escape route. A kind of shiver seems to run through everything, a low hum that sounds — literally, in the whispered Hindi conversation of the guides —  like sher, sher, sher! This zone of apprehension follows the tiger as it moves. Often, the best way to find a cat is to switch off your engine and listen. You might then hear, from a distance, the subtle changes in pitch and cadence that indicate a boundary of the zone. But even then, it is impossible to predict where, or if, the tiger will appear.

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The elusive leopard, a ghost of the forests, is often hailed as its most elegant dweller. Its gleaming rosettes catch the sunlight as it prowls through the brush or stalks down a tree. Shy, bashful and elusive, it demands numerous hours spent searching in the forests and, more often than not, one returns unsuccessful. The very lifestyle of a leopard has it living on the run from the larger predators like the royal bengal tigers and intelligent, vicious pack hunters like the dhole in India. Here is one of the magnificent leopards of Kabini.

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The Siberian rubythroat (Calliope calliope) is a small passerine bird generally considered to be an Old World Flycatcher. The rubythroat and similar small European species are often called chats. A perky, long-legged songbird that winters in areas with dense understory coverage, often near wet areas; it breeds in open taiga and highland forest clearings.

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