In our obsession to spot charismatic migratory waterfowl that visit the Sukhna lake during winters, the resident and common birds are overlooked. The Red-wattled lapwing (Titeeri) is one such bird that breeds along the rocky slopes of the lake.
The fierceness with which parent lapwings defend their ground nest and chicks by dive-bombing humans, dogs, jackals and grazing cattle is an instinct that human parents could emulate. Parents also resort to adroit manoeuvres such as “broken wing” distractions to divert predators. Young ones match the alertness, courage and guile of their parents to survive multiple threats that include getting trodden over by heavy-hoofed animals such as cattle.
Dr Rajiv Narwal holds the charge of sub-divisional civil hospital (Kalka) and is a wildlife photographer by passion. He frequents the lake every morning to capture images of its biodiversity and the fluidity of its panoramas. Over many weeks, Narwal observed the breeding of a lapwing pair from mating to shepherding the chicks through complex hazards that include snakes.
“What amazed me was the instant response of newborn chicks. As soon as they heard the parents’ warning calls, the chicks disappeared into their surroundings by becoming completely motionless among the rocks leading down to the Sukhna waters. Their tiny bodies blended perfectly with stones and they looked exactly like small pebbles, making them virtually impossible to spot,” Narwal told this writer.
Lending an enlightening overview of chick responses, Prof Gurpartap Singh told this writer, “The colour pattern of lapwing eggs and chicks is similar to the ground colour, making it a natural camouflage. Chicks are precocial, meaning they are able to walk and feed themselves immediately upon hatching (unlike, say, bulbul and sparrow chicks which stay in nests for an extended period and are fed there by parents). Upon hearing parental alarm calls, chicks squat and curl into a ball, often putting their heads down to remain motionless. Their cryptic, speckled-brown plumage enables them to blend smoothly with the ground, pebbles and grass. When fairly close to a parent, the chicks often run to hide under the wings or belly of the parent. In some cases, especially when very small, they may hurriedly hide in low grass or behind some debris or other objects on the ground.”
Truth in art’s absurdity
Two American millionaires have been killed in the space of eight months while big-game hunting in Africa. Asher Watkins was gored to death by a Cape buffalo in South Africa in August 2025. Last month, it was the turn of Ernie Dosio (75), owner of a California vineyard company managing 12,000 acres.
Dosio was trampled by a herd of five female elephants protecting a calf in Gabon, a country often described as the ‘Last Eden’ of Africa. Ironically, Dosio was out hunting antelope when ambushed by the “mean mums”.
The death sparked an acrimonious debate between advocates of “conservation culling or hunting” and animal rights activists. The wealthy American hunting lobby (Dosio was on a $40,000 safari hunt to Gabon) is backed, among others, by President Donald Trump and his hunter sons.
Dosio was “outgunned” as he faced the brunt of the most brutal maternal instincts. Female elephants are known to protect and nurture a calf like the proverbial “maasis” (mother’s sisters) and display intelligence, social instincts, memory and emotional articulation.
Ultimately, Dosio fell prey to his targets. Dosio was hunted down when the boot was on the other (elephant) foot. Was it karma or just nature’s brutal reality? A hunter’s martyrdom? Or a cosmic throw of dice in the game of random chance? While words have been exchanged like poisoned arrows over hunter graves, it was left to an artist to give animals a voice of equity and articulate the old saying: “Revenge is a wild justice.”
Dosio left behind, in his California home, walls nailed with trophies of elephants, lions, rhinos, moose, elk, reindeer, etc. But in a cartoonist’s rival imagination, a trophy had been nailed to the wall in an ‘elephants only’ safari club.