Brown feathers speckled with white are scattered in the short grasses.
Searching keenly, Radheshyam Bishnoi circles the area in the fading light. He is hoping he is wrong. “These feathers don’t look plucked,” he says aloud. Then he makes a call, “Are you coming? I think I’m quite sure…,” he tells the person on the line.
Above us, like an omen in the sky, the 220-kilovolt high tension (HT) cables hum and crackle – now black lines silhouetted against the darkening evening sky.
Remembering his duty as a collector of data, the 27-year-old pulls out his camera and takes a series of close-up and mid-shots of the scene of the crime.
The next day, early in morning we are back on site – a kilometre from hamlet Ganga Ram ki Dhani, near Khetolai in Jaisalmer district.
This time there is no doubt. The feathers belong to the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), known locally as the godawan .
— source ruralindiaonline.org | Priti David | Apr 19, 2023