Wildbuzz: The lines of fate - Hindustan Times
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Wildbuzz: The lines of fate

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | ByVikram Jit Singh
Dec 05, 2020 11:16 PM IST

Rescuing a ‘saanp ka bachha’ and watching a White wagtail at a golf course

Human influences alter the lines of fate of even the most ‘missable’, obscure and furtive of creatures. Last Monday, tricity’s snake rescue expert Salim Khan was summoned to Panchkula’s Sector 19. People residing in a colony adjacent to the railway track were at their wit’s end. Two highly venomous Russell’s vipers were given to regularly sunbathing after emerging from the rubble of a wall that barricaded the track. Khan was able to nab one viper and while searching for the other, a commotion erupted among anxious onlookers. A lady’s eye chanced upon what she hysterically proclaimed a “saanp ka bachha”. Her blabbering further inflamed the situation as she declared the area was crawling with different venomous snakes and that a death was inevitable in the colony.

The Cantor’s Black-headed snake in Khan’s palm.(PHOTO: VIKRAM JIT SINGH)
The Cantor’s Black-headed snake in Khan’s palm.(PHOTO: VIKRAM JIT SINGH)

Khan rescued the 35-cm snake, which was innocently enjoying a spot of sunbathing, from the crowd’s frenzy but was left puzzled as he had never seen such a species. On examination of its photograph by taxonomy experts, the species was declared as probably the very uncommon, non-venomous Cantor’s Black-headed snake (Sibynophis sagittarius). It was possibly the first authentic record of the species from the greater Chandigarh region.

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Very much an understudied species, this one does not grow to more than 55 cm as an adult. It dwells in a secretive manner, hiding under leaves, stones and fallen wood to ambush geckos and skinks. Its method of killing is to deploy multiple teeth to grip the prey while using its body coils to an extent to constrict the prey. The teeth in snakes act like hands: to grip and then direct the ingestion of the prey down the throat.

Tree art & wagging tails

Tree art at the 4th hole. (PHOTO: BRIG. BALWINDER SINGH SANDHU (RETD))
Tree art at the 4th hole. (PHOTO: BRIG. BALWINDER SINGH SANDHU (RETD))

There were a couple of Nature’s delightful asides to the ongoing Rs 1.5 crore Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational by Take Sports at the tree-lined and verdant Chandigarh Golf Club. Mature and majestic tall trees represent the principal challenge to the professional golfers fighting hard to win the prestigious trophy. Virtually each tree standing in the groves flanking the fairways has a story to tell, of a golf ball that struck it and rebounded. Mostly to the golfer’s detriment but occasionally to good luck when the ball had deflected to a clear patch. A creative soul has anonymously inscribed a fascinating graffiti of a golfer in action on the trunk of a stately tree to the right of the 4th hole green and adjacent to the cart path. Perhaps, to ward off the evil spirits of golf that dwell in trees!

A White wagtail forages along the 18th green. (PHOTO: KESHAV SINGH / HT)
A White wagtail forages along the 18th green. (PHOTO: KESHAV SINGH / HT)

The 18th hole green is the arena of championship climax and is usually attended by galleries and caddies. In the interludes of peace and quiet when the action ebbs and the leadergroup is yet distant on the horizon, a delicate migratory bird, the White wagtail, seizes the opportunity to forage for insects in the ruffled 18th green collars. Like the resident stray dogs, whose tails tirelessly wag sideways in the fervent hope of having a morsel flung in their direction, this petite bird is also characterised by a wagging tail. Only that it is not a beggar’s tail. Also, the bird’s tail is incessantly wagged up and down as it runs about swiftly to pluck tiny insects and springs in the air to capture winged prey.

vjswild1@gmail.com

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