Work Text:
The laggar falcon has white and greyish brown plumage, dark feathers on its back and blackish trousers, and a piercing stare. Its powerful wings allow it to fly high in the sky, and with its strong eyes it can see up to a kilometre away.
In an area of open country scattered with trees, the laggar falcon is fashioning a nesting site out of dry sticks and dry grass in the hollow of a tree. Later, the laggar falcon goes searching for something to eat: a small bird, a wild dove, a small mammal, a lizard or some large insects.
It is breeding season and the laggar falcon has found her mate. After mating, the laggar falcon will lay a clutch of three to five eggs and each of these eggs will hatch into a baby laggar falcon called an eyas.
A woman studying the mid sized birds of prey dutifully makes notes in a notebook. The laggar falcon used to be very common in this area but their numbers have declined due to factors such as an increase in the use of pesticides in the region and being used as a decoy to trap larger falcons.
The woman holds a pair of binoculars to her eyes and watches a solitary laggar falcon flying in the sky, searching for a meal. The sky is clear and blue and the falcon soars higher and higher.
“Inchara?”
The woman turns at hearing her name and a smile forms on her lips.
Her husband Agastya trots over with a canteen of water and an answering smile. “Are you thirsty?”
“Oh, you’re most helpful! I’m absolutely parched.”