Sarus crane family foraging

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Keoladeo NP, Bharatpur, Jan 2019

Watching this Sarus crane family foraging was half an hour well spent. Found this in a corner that didn't have many people, so I had all the time in the world to get close, watch, and make some images.

The chick seemed very hungry and was very noisy, following the parents around and trying to snap at everything they caught, but the parents didn't share any morsel with the chick. After a while, only one parent foraged, with the chick still closely following it, and then the same happened with the other parent. I couldn't wait around long enough to see if the chick finally ate. Probably still just learning to find its own food.

I wish the light were better. Also, I realised too late that I should have been using a slightly shorter focal length.

Canon 760D, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM
SS 1/1250
Av 8.0
ISO 400

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This shows a nice behaviour. While the adults are doing their job the young is learning and feeding as well. The frame is a bit tight with a feather barely touching the top frame. These are tall birds and suddenly they can raise their heads and engage in nice behaviour. In the past I had missed such shots due to a long tele prime lens. How many pairs of Saras did you sight? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Nice picture of the Sarus pair with kiddo in tow, Abhishek. Agree that the frame looks a bit tight, however this has helped in capturing the finer details of the birds and the feeding behavior. The young crane seems to be complaining that the parents are eating it all leaving none for it, nice expression captured. Thanks for sharing.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice that you could observe the chick behavior. Last time I visited Bharatpur, a few years back, there was only one pair of Sarus cranes :(. Good to see the chick and hope that more birds are coming back and breeding there. How long was your trip there? Thanks for sharing.

[Prashant Gandhi]

This photo teach us about family and excitement of learning! That little one tries to follow its parent's technique! Your observation skill is much appreciated! :thumbup:

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Thanks all.

Sabyasachi & Mrudul - I saw 2 pairs, and I was told there are 6 pairs in the park this year. The jackal population within the park has apparently now exploded to a very high density, and the cranes struggle a bit with that (being a man-made wetland park historically, ecological balance is something KNP has always had some trouble with). I saw another 3 pairs of Sarus outside the park.