Looking back: Iristu from close range (Wednesday, January 7th 2004)

We verified the main places that Iristu visited on the first day, as well as his "daily schedule." Near Jamwari reservoir, where the storks together with painted storks, red-naped ibises, great white egrets and spoonbills were taking a rest since afternoon, we quickly built a hide- out from straw and bamboo sticks. I waited for the storks' return after 10 pm while the annoying strong wind was shaking the whole frame. Iristu's transmitter signal was still not heard while the first returnee - the painted stork - landed on the dam bank. In no time, there was a swish sound above my hide-out and the first black stork arrived. Carefully I turned on the camcorder and swapped it with a telephoto lens camera on the tripod. The bank was getting full, but Iristu was still nowhere to be seen. The area turned from quiet to loud a while later as a bevy of spoonbills landed. Apart from the painted and black storks, the spoonbills ran around all the time, floundered and searched for food in the mud with their peckers, or for sticks over which they fought afterwards. Impatient red-wattled plover enhanced the picture. Red-naped Ibises walked around in the background.

Black storks, mainly Iristu, in their wintering grounds in southern Gujarat. Also featured: a painted stork, red wattled lapwings, eurasian spoonbills, and a black-headed ibis. Jamwari, December 14, 2003.

It was almost 11 pm and Iristu had not appeared yet. This time yesterday, he was standing in shallow water, of which I now have a perfect view. At the moment, only black-tailed godwits and spoonbills are there. Suddenly my transmitter started to beep. As the volume strengthened, my emotion grew as well. The signal improved surprisingly quickly and in less than five minutes, Iristu was in front of me! I recorded every moment. I saw his antenna and transmitter in the view-finder. Same as every bird, he is very suspicious right after the landing. It's good that his tensions were being affected by the skittish spoonbills. The wind was still plucking at my shelter and it was really hard to prevent the camcorder from shivering. After a while, Iristu turned to the side and showed clearly the entire transmitter. I succeeded to fasten the Nikon camera quickly on the tripod and made a few photos just before he disappeared behind a tree trunk.

Things became quiet; two other black storks were taking rest on one leg near a small bush on the right for a long time. A sudden excitement grew from an unknown cause. The spoonbills and red-wattled plovers started to pay attention and Iristu flew a few meters forward. The bank remained almost unchanged, only that I could not see Iristu, even if the signal showed that he is close. I was searching with my binoculars all over the bank, but it's of no use. Should I be sad that he disappeared in less than 15 minutes, or satisfied as one of our storks dedicated 15 minutes to me after all these years?