Nesting @ 5000m

For some time I got lost there! Birding trails lead you to most magnificent natural scenes. Let me take you to one such scene, where I got lost in the sky above, earth below and vast landscape of Ladakh.

On our return journey to Leh from Tso Kar, we made a stop near a grassland to experience some stunning moments with Blanford's Snowfinch (plain-backed snowfinch). We saw many other birds like Black-winged Snowfinch,  Horned larks, but Blanford's Snowfinch was the show-stopper that day. 

They were hoping around the dry sandy area, where they really blended in with the habitat. So much so that colours of the dry sandy habitat perfectly matched with the finch or other way round. I always wonder how they manage to blend in so well with the surrounding, so much so that they look one, making it hard to distinguish.  The finches were very active and chasing each other, also saw a mating pair. 

It was vast green land with lots of burrows of Ladakh Pika. Few were occupied, few empty. Pikas where hopping, hiding and running from one burrow to another. As we moved towards the green area, we saw a Blanford's snowfinch feeding a young one and two little ones wandering around the nest...oh I mean a burrow. Ya, they nest in a burrow.  

It was still cold, though by end of the trip we had got used to the thin air. We sat on the damp earth, mesmerised, watching the Blanford's Snowfinch feed its fledglings. The parent would bring in food for the fledglings, then pick up the scraps and soar off. The chicks were moving around in the vicinity of the nest, grooming themselves, attempting to locate some seed on the ground or snuggling their siblings. Just to add we witnessed all this in the thin air at above 5,000 metres (17,480 ft) the sea level.

Watching the habitat, the nest in the burrow, the fledglings wandering around in the open ground, made me wonder of the dangers they are exposed to. The tough job of the parents to protect them from the predators, feed them. The natural instinct of the fledglings to run down in the burrow in case of danger. I am still very curious about the pika, how do they share their burrow for nesting? on what is the criteria for the finch to choose the burrow? 

The Pika's and Blanford's Finch's families were literally sharing the same habitat and hardly few feet away from each other. 

What an incredible example of co-existence isn't it!