Dwarka: A National Geographic moment in the neighborhood
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Dwarka: A National Geographic moment in the neighborhood

The episode involves a hungry Pond Heron and a 'reluctant to be a meal' Flapshell tortoise

Dwarka: A National Geographic moment in the neighborhood

Dwarka: As the residents of Dwarka were just getting about their day, some sipping their morning tea while some out on a stroll, a matter of life and death was unfolding in a neighbourhood waterbody in Sector 23. While almost everyone was consumed in the daily humdrums of life, one avid birder from Dwarka, Dr Jai Prabhan's camera was closely witnessing the abovementioned episode. The episode involved two protagonists, a hungry Pond Heron, a 'reluctant to be a meal' Flapshell tortoise and a twisting turn of events.

Dr. Jai Prabhan
Credit: CitySpidey

Prabhan, while talking about the episode says, “I have been observing one Pond Heron for a long time. Being a shy bird, it usually stays at a distance and alone. A few days back, I got reasonably close and kept tracking it patiently, hoping to get a shot as it hunts for a fish. However,he surprised me and was probably more surprised itself by what it had captured. What looked like a coconut or a hard ball from a distance, turned out to be a tortoise."

What Prabhan recorded in a series of photographs was thus- The desperate tortoise, with its neck strangled in the beak of the Heron, was struggling to save its life. After several efforts, it got its jaw out of the heron's beak and counter-attacked. The unexpected retaliation and aggression caused the heron to loosen its grip and the tortoise made a well-earned escape. The poor Pond Heron was left shell-shocked! and with a lesson that tortoises are a tough nut to crack. The tortoise too got a lesson of its life. However, the party who got the best out of this whole episode was Prabhan. Says he, "What I got was a great wild natural spectacle, and the best part was, it all unfolded in my neighbourhood."

Prabhan shared the sequence of pictures with Cityspidey, which we now bring to you.

All pictures credit: Dr. Jai Prabhan
Jyoti  Shekhar
Jyoti Shekhar
634 Days Ago
Loved your post. Very interesting.