Vultures





They are rarely seen now. In our childhood, we have seen them flying high in the sky, showing a special white patch on the back of their wings. That was the identification of them from far away. They signify "death". Mostly we used to see them when there was a visible corpse of mammal, mostly cows. They used to keep a vigil for corpses, and like scavenger birds like "crows" they also used to clean up the dead body just by eating it.

I have used the past tense all around, as they cannot be seen regularly now. I have last seen them around 15 years back from a near distance. One can visit the zoos to find these extinct species of birds.

Fortunately, I have seen them once again today only. That too, in Kolkata. Believe it or not, three four vultures were sitting on a street light on the way to sector V, through Rajarhat.

Now the question is where did they come from? Where are the vultures nowadays?

In my opinion, the vultures have been extinct as a species in birds, but in species of mankind, they are increasing in number. They are everywhere, every nook and corner of your daily lives, in different camouflage, and waiting for you to be in real trouble. Once in trouble, they will surround you,nibble you, till death.

2 comments:

agnitrisha said...

dear shankha,
vultures are vanishing because of scarcity of nesting place and food..
i have seen hundreds of vultures in rajasthan..i lived there for an year, there is a patch of land where they dump dead animals and that place is swarmed with vultures.
vanishing of vultures is worrying environment specialists a lot.
hope something is done for them.. :)

Naresh K Bothra said...

Today I saw a plane flying at Rajarhat and suddenly it's wing started flapping and then I realised that it is a vulture and now sitting on Net I am discovering more about these white rumped vultures.

Naresh Kr Bothra
18 Nov 2011

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Hi!
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Regards,
Shankha