When Birds Cry Alarm

In some countries, one can tell the presence of dangerous animals such as snakes, jackals, wild cats and predatory birds in the neighbourhood from the commotion created by the birds in the area.

I was amazed to see the desert birds present in Dubai and other parts of the UAE respond in the same way as their counterparts in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan do.

I was busy observing flowering plants in an abandoned section of a Dubai desert park when I heard alarm calls of some birds 50 metres away from me.

As I diverted my attention to the calls of white-eared and red-vented bulbuls, I noticed a flock of Arabian babblers excitedly jumping and hopping on the branches of a tree. A little green bee-eater even tried to dive over something near the base of a tree.

Babblers, bulbuls, graceful prinia, purple sunbird, etc., were all zooming in on that tree where the bee-eater tried to attack something.

I focused my binoculars on the tree and saw the creature that was at the centre of so much attention.

It was a saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) nicely anchored at the basal fork of a tree. The viper was virtually resting without showing any movement.

I wondered how the birds had spotted the snake which was so well camouflaged. The birds dispersed only when I began taking pictures of the snake. I did not disturb the creature and left it in peace.