Jungle Owlet By Gargi Mishra
Kenneth Anderson, the pioneer of wildlife conservation in South India, had said, "One cannot doubt that the time will come when even the few living creatures that today remain in their natural state will have vanished, and man may then, and only then, realise too late that what a priceless asset he has wantonly allowed to be thrown away."
I found Anderson's worries and words going to be true in situations like this:
I heard eardrum-bursting loud music playing inside the jungles of Kyari Village of Uttarakhand starting from early morning till late at night without caring for the wildlife around them.
Arguably, it is a punishable offence under the Wild Life Conservation Act. But nobody seems to be aware of it and those who raise voices against it are never heard.
The resorts are separated from the jungle by only a few feet wide footpath. The impact of the noise was so intense that we would have left the place immediately if it were not for those JUNGLE OWLETS (Glaucidium radiatum). After spotting them perching on nearby trees so helplessly, I wondered how they could sustain the noise because their ears are much more sensitive than us! If we couldn't bear the impact then, how could they? Eventually a time would come when they would abandon their natural habitats for some other options (we spotted them in their natural habitat).
When it comes to the hearing capacity of the owls, Dr. Ulrike Langemann of the University of Oldenburg, Germany in an interview to news portal "The Wire" says, "Owl-hearing is very specialised among birds. Their survival depends on it. But the noise of our traffic makes them deaf. Up to 120 metres on either side of roads, the lowest hum of automobiles reduces owl hearing by 17 •/• and at the highest noise level by nearly 90 •/•."
Loud music, trauma and age kill the 'hair cells (sensory cells of auditory system)' in the cochlea (the snail-shaped tube in the inner ear, where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses) resulting in the permanent hearing loss. But, thanks to the miracle of nature or the evolutionary adaptation, the birds can regrow their 'hair cells' and recover their hearing capacity whereas mammals cannot.
Jungle Owlets are Indian residents. But the higher altitude birds move to lower levels during winter. Scrub and moist deciduous forests are their habitable places. They reside in the hollow of a tree or an abandoned woodpecker or barbet nest.
We had spotted a pair of sunbathing Jungle Owlets on March 29th 2021 in the forests near Camp Hornbill in Kyari Village during the early morning hours. March to May is their breeding period. This could be the reason we spotted the two together. I wished the loud music should not scare them off before I observe and study them (Luckily, we spotted few more Jungle Owlets in Camp Hornbill during a visit in December 2021 also).
They are small owlets. Their finely barred head and body appeared to me as if their mother has painted them so carefully. The absence of a defined facial disk was giving the impression of huge round heads as compared to their bodies.
Their other physical features are: upper body plumage is dark blackish brown barred with white; wing coverts have white and rufous patches; the primaries and secondaries are dark brown and barred with dull reddish brown; and the lower body is whitish or pale rufous barred with black. Chin, short eyebrow and moustache streak are pure white.
The most striking feature of the birds is their big and round lemon-yellow eyes. They have feathered tarsi and finely bristled toes with black claws. The greenish- yellow to yellowish-grey hooked bills are powerful enough to grab their prey like grasshoppers, locusts, cicadas, mice, lizards and small birds.
Though their calls can be heard at dawn and dusk the birds are active during the day too. They hunt in the daytime scrapping all the myths that owls cannot see during day time.
The major threats to their lives are the habitat alteration and habitat destruction. If we really do not wish to see them only in the books and wish that our future generations should see them in their natural habitats then let's start conserving their habitat from now itself. I feel imposing a self-ban of the use of mobile phones, loud music and glaring lights at night in these conservation sites would be a great start.
Photo By: Athiya Mahapatra and Gargi Mishra
Place: Around Camp Hornbill, Kyari Village, Uttarakhand
