"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..!
