13
Teetiri
goes to hunt for red crabs
Teetiri returned to the marshy
water-patch near the rocks. There would be good food to be eaten here. The
small red crabs could be found among these grasses and rocks. These
brilliant-red coloured animals kept running sideways when disturbed and would
dig themselves into the sand thinking that they could not be spotted. But the
wet marshy soil and undisturbed sand surface always betrayed them. The
footprints of the small red crabs were left on the wet marshy soil and led the
birds directly to the spots where they had dug themselves in. The lapwings and
other wading birds followed these tracks as they could thus easily identify the
presence of the red crabs and pull them out of their hiding spots and eat them
up. The deeper water patches in the marsh allowed some hiding places for
Teetiri to hide in if Shaheen or Shikra, came hunting in the grassland.
The marshy water-patch was also a
favourite hunting place for other wading birds.
Chimini and her family usually frequented it. Salonki and her large
numbers of brothers and sisters as also a number of frogs were to be usually
seen there. Teetiri loved the songs of the frogs when the first monsoon came
down over the grassland and the river. There would be thousands of red crabs
that would be running all over the place without even any space for them to dig
down to hide.
Teetiri would be joined by her entire
family at that time to feed upon the red crabs. All her relatives, her parents,
her brothers and sisters and Teetiraa’s relatives would be there at the marsh.
Teetiraa’s cousins from across the river would also join them at that time. All
of them knew of the marsh and the best place to visit it. They usually left it
for Teetiri and Teetiraa for the rest of the year. There were other spots and
other times when Teetiri and Teetiraa joined their cousins from across the
river, like when the flying ants came out from the ground, or when the waters
at the salt-water creek went down in summer exposing thousands of young fish
trapped in the rocks.
There were no birds present at the
marsh today. That was strange, thought Teetiri. Usually, there would be many
birds at this time of the day. Was there something wrong? There did not seem
anything like being totally wrong here. The red crabs were there. They were
running around. The waters were very inviting.
The cool waters would be very welcome to rest in after the hot rocks
that she had crawled through. The grass was not moving. Was there some predator
out there at the marsh? Would she be able to spot the predator in time? Was it
Mongoose or Lombdi, the wolf? Was it Naag? Hiding out there in the cool water?
Frightened, Teetiri looked around for help. Who could tell her if there was
something wrong in the marsh?
One of the red crabs came running
towards her unaware of her presence. Instinctively she jabbed down with her beak.
picked up the crab and swallowed it. Wow. That felt goooood. She needed to eat
another. Already she would soon be due back at the nest to relieve Teetiraa.
She walked hesitantly towards the marsh, worried. There! There was another one
of the red crabs. She jumped two steps and rushed towards it and grabbed it
just as it had begun to dig down. Her sudden movement among the stones had
dislodged a dung beetle that had been busy rolling up some mud. She grabbed the
dung beetle without thinking. The dung beetle did not taste as good as the red
crab but it would have to do. She desperately needed that nutrition. She was
going to go back and sit at that nest and she needed all the energy she could
get. She could not complain now. Or, be choosy at the marsh when the very next
moment a predator could easily jump up at her.
