Missed Prey

BySafani Gunasekera

When we were traveling along the banks of a water body one evening in the Wilpattu national park, a serpent eagle suddenly dashed in front of our vehicle and landed on the edge of the water. Puzzled by what we saw, we looked to see that the eagle was trying to capture a land monitor. The eagle had its claws on the land monitor but didn’t have a firm grip as the monitor was under the dried branches and shrubs. The land monitor tried to move towards the water and the eagle’s claws got stuck on a dried branch and it released its grip. The monitor managed to escape in to the water.  and the unhappy serpent eagle who missed its prey went back to rest on a branch and wait for the next opportunity.
(Wilpattu National Park; June 2016)

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