Wait, Golden Broom ! What ?

Masai Mara National Reserve

I think it’s in our nature to appreciate the unexpected yet positive experience more. Kinda like the bonus at work that you didn’t expect. As I said in “Mystrey Of The Ashy Prinia”, it’s those surprise sightings that fulfill and complete my trips to the wild these days. Well, I was all prepared to see Lions, Baboons and even Crocodiles in Masai Mara. What the TV channels didn’t prepare me for though were the unsung gems of Africa like the first creature I ran into there like 5 minutes into the reserve.

David stopped the SUV and pointed to a side, announcing “Grey Crowned Crane !”. I looked through the cam and saw pretty much what you see in Pic : 4 and had to kind of refocus my eyes by looking out of the viewfinder to make sure what I was seeing was right. That damned bird had a golden broom on its head. Well crown, but my bead said broom and there it was, the oddest bird I had ever seen and still is probably 2 years on. Long legs, a capsule shaped body, pink on the head and neck, the head with a black ball at the centre with that broom set up behind it and a grey mane to top it all off. Then I saw his buddy fly in next to him and I swear that really was the oddest bird in flight you can imagine. Well for me, being from India and all it definitely was. I was in a completely different continent and eco system for the first time and this was my first African surprise.

Well, my guy gave me a couple of awesome expressions ( Pics : 1 & 2 ) which I will always remember as my welcome pictures to Masai Mara and as the next two weeks there progressed, we stopped less and lesser to see them. There was just so much else to catch around there. Well, although these guys are seen around the Mara, they’re an endangered species due to loss of wetlands, overgrazing and pesticide pollution. They’re pretty easy to photograph cause they strut about pretty slow and the only issue I’d say is that finding your target oriented for a good shot may be a challenge cause well, the road you’re on is usually to one side of your target and unlike carnivores that tend to eye you, birds don’t usually care and will strut about their own business. Most vehicles won’t have off road permits on all days and it’s not like that would help much either cause birds just change direction a lot when they’re foraging. So, it’s a game of patience and repeated trials, something that I wish I knew and noted the last time I was there. I actually might’ve managed to capture a lot more of these unique guys.

So, Grey Crowned Cranes have made their place in the national flag of Uganda. Quite a feat actually, given the Human obsession with Eagles, Lions & Mythical Fire breathing Dragons for our flags. A couple of other birds and some animals have achieved this but very few compared to the supposedly “mighty flag bearers” that I just mentioned. Crowned Crane couples get together and stay together for about 9 – 10 months after which, the children will start hanging out together, feeding in fields. Interestingly, these birds roost in trees and they’re the only Cranes to do so. All of their chicks also hatch at the same time which is also uncommon among Cranes. The hatched chicks are in a hurry and can run pretty much as soon as they hatch. Courtship among this species is believed to revolve around a dance like in the case of many other birds. They’re found in small groups of 3 to 20 usually but in some cases people have reported groups as large as 150 individual birds. How and why such a large group of these guys would get together beats me though. Whatever that convention was for, we obviously weren’t invited.

I really want another go at these birds. I didn’t know what I know now about birds and photographing them when I saw them and there’s just so many possibilities that I want to explore with these leggy beauties. Well, Tanzania ‘s on the list and I guess the call of Ngorongoro just got louder for me while writing this out.