HASEEB SHAIKH #theshaikhwithoutcamels

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 Bijran...

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 w...

SMART PEAFOWLS (Me, in the Wild) I consider myself to be the luckiest employee in this wide world. Every night I wait for the sun to raise next morning so I can rush to my work place in the midst of wilderness. I work as a Naturalist with some 'state of the art' organization that propagates & inspires enthusiasts to study and work on wildlife, environment & nature. The Serenity Library sits on 50,000 sq. mts.. area of land which is no less than a forest. It is a thickly foliaged estate that boasts of lush green landscape with a wide range of flora and fauna thriving within it. It has a big man-made pond interlaced with paved walkways that run through thick outgrowths, an administrative block that houses my office, a reading room that racks up 2,500 books on wildlife, environment & nature, a 70 head strong capacity multimedia room with a 8'X8' screen to project documentaries, films & educational programs on wildlife, environment & nature from our own ...

JAMBUGHODA, RISE OF A MINNOW (Me, at Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary) Often certain unsung folklore’s lie wrapped up, dusted and hidden in the annals of wildlife and environmental library. Either they are soft targets owing to the polity of the area or they are too small and feeble to fight for a share they deserve as in recognition. The ‘Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary’ is one such untold ‘success’ story. Fortunately it now seems that this ‘minnow’ is carving a niche for itself on the National map amongst the big-wigs.  Declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary in year 1990 through honest & dedicated efforts of the Raja Sahab of the erstwhile principality of Jambughoda, Vikram Sinhji Rana, and located in a small erstwhile princely state of Jambughoda after which it derives its name, this is a small 130 sq. Km. sanctuary which lies 60 Kms to the North-East of Baroda city and 25 Kms from the ‘UNESCO World Heritage Site’ of the ‘Champaner Archeological Park’. It is ideally located in t...

FOREST FRIENDLY TRIBALS OF JAMBUGHODA (With a Baria Tribal of Jambughoda WLS) ‘Coexistence with the wild’ has been a human way of life for thousands of years now, or if I may be allowed to pen it better it would be, ‘encroachment’ in the wild territory has been a human tendency. The richness of forests blended with mystery has for thousands of years down the line enticed humans and despite the potential threat of human-animal conflict and fatal losses owing to the encounters with denizens of the forests, the forests have proved to be too enticing, tempting and alluring for the humans to shrug off the idea of staying within or close to it. On this take the ‘Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary’ is no different. This sanctuary derived its name from a small erstwhile princely state of Jambughoda, in Panchmahal district of Gujarat, in the vicinity of which it lies. This sanctuary is about 70 kilometers from Baroda city and 25 kilometers from the ‘UNESCO World Heritage Site’ Of Champaner Arche...

SORRY TALE OF THE HOUSE SPARROW  (A miniature painting of a House Sparrow on a rock by me) ‘The fall of a Sparrow’, was a title that legend Salim Ali rightfully gave to one of his well acclaimed works on the birds and unsurprisingly his prophecy turned out to be a phenomenon all over. The sparrow lost its count worldwide, 62% fall in numbers in just 25 years. Contrary to the popular belief, it is not just the urbanization that is the root cause of alarming fall in the numbers of the sparrow, once most common bird in urban areas. The innovative modern architecture and speedy construction techniques, wherein the excessive use of materials such as glass and aluminum panes is also a major reason for its disappearing act. The traditional carved wood and concrete ‘jali’, which for a long time have been ideal nesting sites for the sparrow, gave way to such innovative construction materials which deprived the sparrow of an adequate nesting site. Evidently we find trees and native pl...