Birds of a feather - 2 !

"Far from the madding crowd..."

I could repeatedly hear myself say these words as I drove down the quiet stretch just a few miles away from the city.  It is quite unbelievable how the most quiet get-away's can be found in the most crowded of places, if we know where to look!

It was a good change to catch up on birds again after a long time; though I must admit I have been constantly looking them up in my books and wherever I have traveled. But this time, there were a lot of "land" birds to check out, having seen quite a few "water" ones already.

The first exciting one was the bee-eater. It is a small bird which is quite colorful. There are twenty six varieties of these birds! Most of them have some amount of green in their plumage. They are called bee-eaters because they, well, like eating bees! They also eat other flying insects but honey bees make up their primary diet. Interestingly, before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect thereby extracting most of the venom. And the birds only catch prey that are "on the wing" and ignore flying insects once they land. Now that's principled living! 

They stay in colonies and live in a community of sorts; some species are known to have some of the most complex social structures. Another interesting aspect of these birds is that they do "dust-bathing" and "water-bathing" to keep down parasites!

The next bird was the green-pigeon, a very elegant bird which has a green plumage with a yellow collar! It was the first time I saw one, (and looked it up in my book now), so that was cool.

There were also a lot many red-whiskered bulbul's. Their cries very much resemble the words "pleased-to-meet-you", said very quickly and in a shrill tone!  It is more often heard than seen, but will often perch conspicuously especially in the mornings when they call from the tops of trees. Bulbul's feed on fruits and insects predominantly. An entire family was spotted in a brush nearby and I could see them from quite close. Their life span is about 11 years. [Courtesy Wiki!]

Many sun-birds were seen flitting about and now I finally know that not all small birds are sun-birds :P One interesting point to note, told by a veteran ornithologist (!) is that sun-birds are not only small and colorful but also have a curved beak. So finally I have one way to classify them!

Also spotted quite a few Munia's. They were flitting between bushes and were quite difficult to spot. They prefer open habitats and feed on seeds. The one I saw was a scaly-breasted Munia.

I saw an entire tree with lots of weaver bird nests ! And lots of weaver birds as well. They make some of the most complex of nests and it is done by the males of the species. They make home together in a colony apparently for protection. The males are brightly colored (for attractive reasons!). I think we saw a Baya Weaver, though I am not too sure since I was far away and could not really spot them clearly. They feed on seeds and are know to damage crops. Baddies in that sense!

Then there were the Indian Robins, brilliant black with a red rump; Tailor-birds were found in bushes and make a warbling noise. They are short little birds. Tailor-birds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider's web to make a cradle in which the actual grass nest is built. Never saw a nest though.

Also spotted a Copper-smith barbet. They are called so since they make a noise like a copper smith striking metal. These live mostly on wild figs. It was one of the spectacular catches since they are quite difficult to spot. We saw two of them sitting close-by! One was constantly making a hole in a bark of a tree. Like other barbet's they chisel out a hole inside a tree and build their nest. I should know...some years ago, a normal pair of barbet's had made home in a tree outside, right opposite to my room! Right now that home is taken by parakeets :)

These were some of the new birds that were seen. 

The sights constantly reminded me that we were only a few miles away from the city, and so much of beauty awaited us. I guess it comes down to having a discerning eye and a bit of patience as well.

Now I am humming the famous song; Ahista...ahista..!

Birds of a feather..!

In my last blog I mentioned that once I recover my senses, I will write about the experience I had. Guess it has taken a year for that to happen, and I think I might just go senseless again, after this one!

But the raison d'etre for the predicament that beeches me this time, is intricately related to the one faced the last. That of putting in words an experience and appreciation for beauty. Shakespeare had said, "If music be the food of love, play on...", and I will rest my case for the last blog with that.

Looking at nature though, one realizes that all of the wonders that man creates, is just a speck of dust compared to what nature itself has to offer. After all, so many of the designs and art that we create or incorporate, are inspirations drawn from nature and nature's laws. Music too, for example, draws inspiration from the beauty of nature. Our feelings of looking at a sunset on the ocean, or a majestic waterfall or the flutter of wings (or eyelashes!) or just of the silence in a forest, is more accurately described through music, more closely than what words can, the experience that our senses witness.

In that context, how many times I would have seen birds and been to a zoo or other such places and just taken a look at them. But I think this time it was a whole different experience altogether. And it helps when you have a bird expert to explain all the different qualities about them! You tend to notice what was always there..

So it was really nice to look at a wide variety of birds and take "stock!" of what was on offer.

The first was the Egrets, part of the heron family, and a white bird that comes in various sizes (the great, intermediate, cattle, little and many others!) and I realized they are hard working fellows. Wiki says: The word "egret" comes from the French word "aigrette" that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season.

I saw Cormorant's as well, but I did not appreciate it very much. It looked way too clever and I got negative vibes from it! Interestingly, the cormorant was the disguise used by Satan in John Milton's "Paradise Lost", a classic epic poem which I fondly remember for various reasons. The cormorant was known to be a traditional symbol of greed and greedy men. Perched atop the "Tree of Life" (apples anyone?!), Satan took the form of a cormorant as he spied on Adam and Eve during his first intrusion into Eden..!! No wonder I got negative vibes looking at it :)

Of course, that is only on a lighter note. It appears that some of this species were present even at the time of the dinosaurs and its structure has not changed very much. They come in various shapes and sizes as well. So they are really a pretty old and solid species which is awesome.

Then there were Heron's, birds characterized by their long legs. There was a Grey heron,  a Pond heron, a Purple heron and a Night heron. The last one is a red-eyed, yellow legged birdie which gives a feeling that it has either not slept at all or is high on something! The others were a variety of whites yellows and browns. And they have an interesting method of catching fish - by deception! Apparently, they put bits of grass or leaves in the water so that the fish come out enquiringly...and of-course, the heron is waiting in anticipation..you know what happens next!

Pelican's are majestic looking birds, with large pouch carrying throats. I saw a spot-billed pelican but I think there are lots of other ones in the world. They look really massive up close. I saw one which was feeding its young one. Wiki says that pelicans were considered as very compassionate birds in literature. In Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood by wounding her own breast when no other food was available. The legends of self-wounding and the provision of blood may have arisen because of the impression a pelican sometimes gives that it is stabbing itself with its bill. In reality, it often presses this onto its chest in order to fully empty the pouch.

This apart, I also saw a Stone Plower, a bird which looks just like the color of the rocks that it dwells on. Also saw a Painted Stork (not "stroke", "smock" or "sock"!!), which had a orange beak and pink-white-black colored feathers. The Stork and the Ibis apparently belong to the same family of birds. I am not sure how true it is, but it seems that when the juveniles in this species are threatened by bigger birds, they feign their death!

There was also a River Tern - yellow beaked and yellow tongued - which is a little nut of a bird which lays its eggs outside on the rocks. They are tough little fellows, as it seems they will peck away at any birds or even the eyes of the croc's which might want to eat their eggs. Even though I was at touching distance to it, it just sat there sternly..hmm Tern-is-Stern :)

There were others too, Open bill and a Spoon bill, both characterized by the peculiar shape of their bills, with the latter also having a little color on its bill tip! I also saw the Wagtail, characterized by their long tail feathers, and the common Mayna, which can be seen everywhere actually. There was also Darters, also called as snakebirds, which was sun-bathing! Similar to cormorats, they too get into water to get fish, so actually, they need to dry their wings..

I also saw a small blue Kingfisher too. It was beautiful. It was so near, and yet so far... :) There are many varieties of them it seems, but did not get to see any others. Then there were the sunbirds, coucal (which makes a screechly sound) and fruit bats, called so because they live off on fruits and berries. Also saw a Brahminy Kite, they have deep brown color wings and a white head.

All in all, I think the experience of seeing and knowing about these few birds tell me, just how un-aware we are of our surroundings. When we keep our eyes open and our ears attentive, we can see and listen to nature in all its magnificent splendor. It also seems that nature, literature, music and everything of art, does a fusion of sorts to play out a grand enigma, which while not to be deciphered thread-bare, can still be savored eternally..

Shakespeare had this to say: "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin..", which I think rings true. There appears no walls of differences in our awe and splendor for nature.

So when you see the wide-expanses of the sky and birds flying high above your head, realize how much is possible. We have much to learn..!