Tribute To A Coincidence

I am still so humbled at this coincidence! Few days ago I wrote about Dragonfly migration to Maldives and how Dr. Charles Anderson 'stumbled upon' what may be the longest insect migration in the World! He also talks about Raptors following this insect swarm to the South with the North Eastern Monsoons!

Recently we went to Kulhudhoofushi, Vaikaradhoo and also Nolhivaranfaru and we had to return by sea as we could not get plane tickets. On the way to Male' we stopped at Naifaru which is almost the midpoint in our journey from North to Male'. While the speed launch was being refueled my father and others went for a short walk into the island and suddenly he showed me this Raptor! In my previous article about Dragonflies I had written that '' my Dad is the most intellectually curious Octogenarian an average Joe will ever meet!" And true to my words, out of all of us it was him who pointed to me this Amur Falcon eating a garden lizard! Dr Anderson's words flashed in front of me!

" But dragonflies are not the only creatures that make the crossing. There is more to the story. I'm also interested in birds. And I'm familiar with this fellow. This is a rather special bird. It's a falcon. It's called the eastern red-footed falcon, obviously. But it's also called the Amur Falcon. And it's called the Amur Falcon because it breeds in Amurland.Which is an area along the Amur River, which is up here. It's the border, much of it is the border between China and Russia, up here in the far east."

While I am not 100% sure of the identity of this peregrine, I know it is not one of ' ours' ! I am almost sure this majestic bird of prey must have followed the Dragonflies all the way from North East of our continent and stopped at Naifaru (to refuel) just like us!

I have always envied my colleagues and friends in other countries who can photograph so many varieties of wild birds and animals since we hardly have any of these at all! Even as I write this it is hard to fathom that I got this with my short lens! The Falcon was sitting and eating this lizard at a leisurely pace and I took about ten shots knowing this is a chance that may never repeat!

Thank You!