HASEEB SHAIKH

WALKING WITH A TIGER (At Pangot, while on visit to Corbett NP ) The Corbett National Park trip in November 2012 was an awesome and unforgettable one. I am at loss of words here as I find that there is no room for narration owing to the overwhelming and enthralling feeling. This was the longest feline sighting I ever had in all these years ever since I enrolled myself as a student of nature and choose the Corbett National Park as my classroom on the subject of ‘Tiger’ (Panthera tigris tigris). Accompanied by three friends, all novices when it comes to wildlife and nature, but equally inquisitive about my wildlife enthusiasm, we entered the Jhirna gate in the evening of 15th November 2012 and spent an eventful night at Jhirna forest house. The following day on the 16th November 2012, post afternoon, we entered the Bijrani beat to proceed for the Malani forest house deep inside the beat. This was destined to be one of the longest tiger sightings of my life. Leaving behind the Bijrani ch

STRANGE SHIKRA BEHAVIOUR (Me, Birding in the Wilderness) On 17th June 2012 the following behavior of the birds was recorded by me Has eeb Shaikh, a Naturalist from Ahmedabad,  along with Yatin Parikh (School teacher and wildlife photographer) of from Gandhinagar) at the Aranya Park of the GEER Foundation at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This Shikra behavior  was observed and recorded at around 05.30 pm. It was observed on hearing the chattering of a pair of Black Drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) over their nesting site on the Bawal tree (Acacia nilotica) that the pair was disturbed by a Shikra (Accipiter badius) which perched itself on a branch just above the nest infested with a Drongo hatchling. The Drongo pair constantly flew over the Shikra to force it to fly away from their nest. Just as we sighted the proceedings and Yatin Parikh raised his camera lens to click the picture, the Shikra launched itself into the Drong nest and picked up the young one of the Drongo and flew away with the Drongo