A long time ago, a well-informed rickshaw wala at Bharatpur’s Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary introduced me to the word ‘Jungle Kotwal’. I had expressed surprise at a bird, not too big in size, picking a fight with a Shikra, a bird of prey. In a very entertaining way, he told me stories of the bravery of the Black Drongo.

I got carried away by the stories and pictured a Hindi film hero trying to protect helpless people. The song, andheri raato mein sunsaan raahon par har zulm mitane ko ek Masihaa nikalata hai(on dark nights and lonely roads, a Messiah emerges, to destroy all kinds of oppression) from the Hindi film Shahenshah, was playing in my head. He told me, for small birds like bulbuls, Black Drongo is a saviour. Small birds build their nests near the nests of Black Drongos to keep their children safe. Black Drongo is one of the bravest birds in the jungle. It does not hesitate to pick fights with birds much bigger than it in size.

After that visit to Bharatpur, I clicked pictures of the Black Drongos many times. I didn’t have to travel outside Delhi to see them. This glossy black bird with a distinctive forked tail can be easily identified. I saw them perched on branches of trees and on electric wires. I saw them on Semul trees, perched on branches laden with bright red Semul flowers.

The image of a hero, a saviour of the helpless, was shattered when I saw it tearing apart a big insect. No complaints; food is an individual choice. Black Drongos feed on insects. As they say in Sanskrit – Jivo jivasya bhojnam (one living being is food for another).

Photos and content by Prerna Jain.