Hira Punjabi
Parakeet bitting Monitor lizard
Parakeet versus monitor lizard, India, 2024
Category - Forests
Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, is a bird sanctuary that shelters many migratory birds in winter and some native birds during the breeding period. January is a very cold month, often accompanied by mist and fog. Over the thirty years I have been going to this reserve, I have often observed birds attacking snakes and monitor lizards that prey on their eggs. This time, I was lucky enough to get it on camera: I had been observing the same dry tree for four days when, one morning, a pair of parakeets, accompanied by about ten other parakeets, attacked several lizards. The attack lasted about an hour.
RUNNER-UP
600 mm f/4 Lens - 1/1250 sec at f/8 ISO 1600