FLIGHT 

By Ramprasad Mahurkar (16 years, St Xaviers College, Mumbai)

It was the mating season of the majestic Andean Condors, who were perched on a high altitude cliff which overlooked the shining Pacific Ocean. They were preparing for their special air shows. These air shows helped them find a mate for the rest of their lives. Along with this the old Condors told the young Condors strategies which they would use, apart from the air displays. Time passed and the day to impress the female Condors arrived. The air displays were not really a cake walk. They had a help, in the form of the Air currents which blow over the Atacama desert.

A young Condor was in desperate search of food.

He went close to a cliff and scanned the abyss and seascape for a carcass. Finally, he found one on the sandy shore. Spotting the carcass was difficult. The lifeless animal was covered in sand. The poor Orca had been lying there for three hours. This killer whale was ginormous. It was as good as 10 condor wingspans. He informed the rest of the community about find. They all nose-dived towards it. Their gizzard was roaring with hunger. Their beaks watered at the sight of their favorite food. They feasted on the killer whale for a wholesome three hours. They ate till the cetacean bones were visible. There were little entrails and remains. This community really liked eating Orcas. Now, their stomachs were as full as a stuffed ducks. They barely managed to reach the top of their cliff formed by a pile of rocks slapped to each other.

After a brief rest they were energized enough to carry out their aerial display to attract the attention of a suitable mate. Theirs was a committee of seven. They had quite a task ahead of them. The needed to attract seven females. The vultures started their aerial displays which was a foreplay before the courtship. It included tough and tricky maneuvers, going near the water and swiftly flapping wings and then gaining altitude. Among them was a vulture named Buitre who had mastered the art of flying much better than the others. He flapped its wings a couple of times on the cliff. Then took off to the highest altitude he could. In his flight, Buitre exhibited his long and majestic wings. He put up quite an acrobatic show at high altitude. His stamina supported him a long time after which he gracefully glided downward. Just before he touched the cliff, he decided to surprise them all. Buitre took a three-dimensional turn and circled the cliff in a big swoop. The lady condors were amazed by Buitre’s performance. The other condors lined up. None could match Buitre’s maneuvers. Nonetheless pairs formed and forged for life.

After this the actual courting rituals started. The male vultures started making as intricate nests as possible. They collected twigs and other material to provide a comfortable home to the eggs. They spent two months in the nest as if the eggs were already laid. Two months went like swift air blows over an evergreen plain of Amazon rain forests. That day they had to do a display to win a mate for their life. One by one the male condors started rubbing their neck and wattle against the bark of a tree. While doing this, the color of the neck would become as pink as a berry. The females carefully, started observing which lord had the reddest neck to impress them.

After judging the redness of the lords’ neck, the lady condors started judging their nests. This was a time consuming process in which the female vultures would check how well the nest was made. The males would perch at a distance to witness the judging process. The lords were caught in the feeling of anxiety. The seven female condors tested the nest with their curly claws. They tried to pull the knitted fires of the nest. Further, the ladies tested sitting in the nest and tested if it was comfortable for them or not. The ladies were satisfied by the nests their lords had made with love.

The seven pairs of vultures mated with each other and passed the basic chemicals of life. This transfer triggered the cell division of the eggs. The male vultures duty doubled as he had to carry a lot of food for their mates. They had difficulty in finding food as the animals washed offshore dwindled. They used to take trips far from their nesting sites. These trips would take long-two hours. They did not come to take the drastic step of killing a wild beast. This was because they could find a rotting carcass on those long flights. Every day was same as usual- Going far, finding food, and taking care of their tender mates. After two months,  the vultures laid their precious eggs. The eggs looked ovoid balls of snow.

Both the male and female vultures incubated their small ovoid eggs with the brood patch. The skin provided insulation to the warming effect of the feathers. Soon the chicks hatched out of eggs. The neck of the vultures become red with happiness with the help of their pumping effect. Buitre and his mate Maribo were thrilled to know that their chick had opened its eyes in a matter of five days. All of the committee were shocked to to know that Buitre’s chick had opened his eyes earlier than the other chicks. On the same day, his syrinx started producing the hissing sound. Some days passed and Quechua, the chick started talking.

He asked Maribo, “Why do we eat carrion. Why is it important?” Maribo replied to Quechua and said, ‘We do a very good job. We clean nature when any big animal dies. It is as if we carry death to heaven.” Quechua’s neck turned pale indicating that he was not satisfied with the reply. Quechua then started walking like a bird. He used to look at the sky and be fascinated by the way vultures soared the sky. Then he used to look his father and uncles eating carrion. He had a desire to fly on his own and be the first to tear up a dead beast.

He started flapping his wings and ran on the grass runway of the cliff. Maribo told Quechua not to continue to run on the grass patch runway. Quechua said, “Mother, please let me fly a bit. If I start dropping and losing my confidence, I will call you by a loud hiss.” Maribo warned him not to fly , but he was hell-bent on doing it. He ran on the grass patch, flapped his small his wings twice, and started flying. He took a leap and nose-dived the sandy shore. Quechua was now out of sight. His father Buitre saw him and flew to him. Maribo also accompanied her mate. The parents could not see Quechua properly. They thought about how would he fly. How would he come back to their cliff? Their heart was beating hard like a sledgehammer. To their surprise, Quechua gently landed on the sea shore. Luckily he did not get hurt. He turned to be a flying prodigy. His parents thought that they would have to carry Quechua on their body back to their tall cliff.  Quechua flapped his wings and took help of the air current. He perched on the high cliff. Maribo and Buitre were amazed to see their chick fly properly in the first attempt. They flapped their wings and soared a bit high. Eventually they landed on the grass patch. Both the parents went to their offspring and gave their necks a reddish tinge as a sign of immense joy. They embraced Quechua with their huge wings. The rest of the condors in the committee cheered Quechua for flying within the first trial. 

Buitre was impressed by Quechua and he decided to start giving him flying lessons from the following day.  They started off with the same thing which Quechua did the last day. Buitre showed his nose-dive to the cliff and Quechua followed his father’s demonstration. After Buitre finished his demonstration, Maribo also started teaching Quechua the basics of flying and defense techniques. Both the parents worked hard day and night to give training to Quechua. A few days later, the other Condor chicks had also started taking lessons from their parents. Yet, they were amazed by the way Quechua was gliding, and doing basic maneuvers. They also dreamt of pulling up a carcass with Quechua.

All of the chicks were above the age of two. They had got all independence they needed to live a life on their own. They were now learning the art of attacking a fresh carcass. They used to carefully used to observe the old Condors strike the prize with the hooked, and curved bill. Soon they had also mastered this art. One fine day, the old Condors were feeling weary and restless. They were not soaring high. Buitre took advantage of this. He scanned the sea shore with a greedy eye. He saw that one sea creature was offshore. No other Condor could see it properly. There was a huge rock of the same Colored as the carcass. He gave a loud call and informed the others of what he had found. The younger generation dived to the carcass and pulled it apart. They had even punctured it. At last Quechua fulfilled his dream of finding a carcass and soaring towards it.