Martyn, Nigel, Sataish and
I took on the task of searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack this
morning.
That is, hoping that
the ovenbird, after being caught in a net and having his feathers plucked would
still be around.
Needless to say we did
not see him – he wasn’t as dotish as we thought he was.
But something else had
us baffled though. On the trek in, we saw a Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) fly off leaving eggs on the forest floor.
Martyn marked the spot with a stick so on our return trek we would be alerted
before we approached the Pauraque.
However, on the return
we saw the stick but not the eggs – they had mysteriously disappeared! Someone
suggested the rastaman, and then the scrawny dog who was on the track. But
there were no signs of either. There were no other suspects until Sataish
jumped like a madman – nearly stepping on a Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis Dos Cocorite Snake (which was id’d
by Carl Fitzjames later).
Ah well, Birding took a
different turn this morning..! B R. Kamal
