Peregrine Falcon at Corbett

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Posting here at Indiawilds after a very long time. Was out of the country for extended periods of time this year, returned last week and thanks to my wife and daughter got pulled into a family wedding in Delhi which prompted us to make it to Corbett. For the first time we stayed near Bijrani. I have always stayed in Dhikala and towards the end of our stay I was sorely missing it. Though Bijrani is a decent part of the jungle, it can never appeal to someone who is in love with Dhikala. (I speak for myself, no offence intended). We saw a lot of birds with a major highlight- almost 50-60 hornbills in a single tree, pied and great indian. Tiger sighting also happened and sadly it was as bad as other parks with 6 jeeps following it. We took 6 safaris of which 4 were in Bijrani and 2 in Jhirna. Jhirna reminded me of Kabini, the safari route gets over even before the jungle feeling sets in. Overall, I am not sure if I want to remember Corbett this way, will have to go back to Dhikala and I hope it has maintained its sanctity as I remember it.

Nikon D7000, f/5.6, SS 1/2000, ISO 400, 4200 (Nikon 300f4 +1.4xTC)

[Roopak Gangadharan]

nice to have you back murugan....your thoughts will be echoed by all who have seen the steady decline of the pristine portions of our jungles. The thought is as recurrent as ones obsession to be back there and every time you will see something which makes you feel that it is never going to be the same again.I guess thats something which we will have to live with ...it will never be the same again. Wish you won't get that feeling at Dhikala next time around....

Nice to see this magnificent raptor, seems to be a long shot.

TFS
Roopak

TFS
Roopak

[Shyamala Kumar]

Great sighting of an elegant raptor.Always wanted to capture such a one in the wild.Really hope you are lucky next time round when you visit the Dikhala Zone of Corbett.Nice to have you back. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Majestic raptor. Some more details in the image would have been great.

Unfortunately Jhirna gets lot of tourists throughout the year. Nevertheless once in a while good sightings are reported from jhirna as well. I hope to get some time around march to go to Dhikala.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting of this majestic bird. Good perch and eye contact. Wish it was closer. Look forward to more from Corbett :). Thanks for sharing.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Truly a majestic raptor. Looks like Shaheen Falcon (Falco peregrinus peregrinator), the Indian subspecies of Paregrine and a resident raptor of Corbett and the hill forests. In one book it has been shown as one of the three races of Falco peregrinus.
Nice black eyes and orange brown breast and abdomen well documented. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Sucheth Lingachar]

Beautiful Raptor.... Beautiful image.... is it cropped....? as sabyasachi mentioned some more details would have been even better.. TFS... yet to click this species...

[Chitrita Chatterjee]

Superlative capture.Love the yellow eyes and the majestic stance. thanks for sharing