A Croc’s Breakfast

Winter mornings near a river have a special beauty – the morning mist paints pictures hard to forget. One of our favourite ways to take this in is a boat ride on Kaveri river at Ranganatthittu.

Ranganatthittu is the largest bird sanctuary in Karnataka. As usual we relied on a boat safari, and for the large part photographed Pelicans in flight, and covered a few Kingfishers as well as nesting Swallows.

 A crocodile hunting a spot-billed Pelican in the waters of Kaveri river, Ranganathittu

However, we were also keeping a keen eye on a few crocodiles in the river. Crocodiles are very common at Ranganathittu, and lend a serious air to an otherwise relaxed atmosphere. While some were sunbathing on rocks in the river, quite a few could be seen swimming looking for a juicy breakfast.

Our ride was almost at the end, and a Spot-billed Pelican swooped down gracefully to settle down on the water – and in a fraction of a second, a crocodile pounced on the unsuspecting bird, and swallowed it whole!!

The shock of the moment left us frozen, minds confused by the cruel ways of life in nature, while birds and other life in the sanctuary continued their day as if this was a non-incident. Perhaps they understood the fleeting temporariness of life much better than us humans.