Vultures Thriving in Corbett National Park

18th March 2009, Dhikala - Corbett National Park, India.
Nachiketa Bajaj

Since early 1990s a sharp decline had been noticed in the Vulture population in India. Reason behind being the use of a drug in Cattle called Diclofenac. For every 1000 Vultures spotted back then, only 1 remains now. Such figures sent chills down the spines of conservationists and organisations like Bombay National History Society (BNHS) started Vulture conservation and breeding programmes. These declining figures had put conservationists in a dilemma whether Vultures would survive beyond 2009 but this year started on a positive note where Vultures populations were seen bouncing back in Corbett National Park, thriving in their natural habitat.

It was the morning of 17th March 2009 at about 11 AM, myself, Angad and Varun were perched atop Watch Tower No. 1 on Sambar road in Corbett National Park to try and sight a male Tiger who had recently made a kill in the grassland opposite the tower. It was a perfect spring morning and the sun felt nice and warm. Apparently the Tiger had dragged it's kill into a small trench that was hiddden from our view but we could still make out the exact location of the kill as there was a wake of Vultures in the area trying to scavenge on the kill. Every time the Vultures grew stronger in number over the kill, it seemed as if the Tiger tried to shoo them away as we could see the Vultures making a dash for their lives every now and then.

Few hours passed and the activity over the kill started to slow down. The Vultures started to scatter and flew in circles over the grassland, coming closer to the tower wuth ever flying circle. The first one to pass by was a Slender Billed Vulture, a species on the verge of extinction.

Next up was a Cinereous Vulture that flew past us. Cinereous Vultures are on the Near Threatened list for extinction and are one of the largest of the Vulture species.

Followed by a Eurasian Griffon that flew over us within seconds of the Cinereous Vulture flying past. Eurasian Griffons have a white bald head, very broad wings and short tail feathers. They have a white neck ruff and a yellow bill. The buff body and wing coverts contrast with the dark flight feathers.

It surely was a pleasing sight to see these magnificent creatures bouncing back from the verge of extinction, flying in pairs and thrive in their natural habitat, soaring over the vast open grasslands scoping for food. I sure hope that Vultures remain for as long as our ecological cycle since they are a vital part of our ecological cycle and their extinction could pose a serious imbalance in the way of nature.