Some horrid stuff that happens around my place

I just wish to highlight this very horrible thing that children between the ages of 6-12 do near my house almost every day. There is a small tree just opposite my house ... a few meters away to be precise, and it is frequented by many small birds (mostly warblers) throughout the day. These boys, for want of nothing better to do, indulge in a vicious sport where they try and bring down these birds by hurling stones at them with slingshots. Their aim is fairly accurate, as they manage to stun and capture many warblers, and also kill many of them "incidentally". When asked why they do this, they usually smile at me and say that they will take these birds home for "mom to cook". Has anyone ever heard of warblers being cooked for their meat? I mean they hardly weigh 80-100 grams each, all told, and if they are skinned and then cleaned, what amount of meat are you going to obtain from each of them? Hence, to me at least, it looks like a blatant lie. 

Here is a picture of their "booty" on a fine Friday morning.

Two decapitated heads lie just outside the bunch of these dead warblers.

The parents of these children probably know about this activity - how couldn't they? However, there seems to be an attitude of ignoring this mass murder of birds.

P.S. The boys let me take this picture; they were not at all perturbed by what they were doing and did not know why I should be taking the picture.

There is something about birds

Before my readers start puzzling over the title of today's post, let me say that there really is something about birds that drew me to the hobby of watching the feathered variety since the past one year and few months. Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not offer the same opportunities for bird-watching that I used to have in India (but was sadly unable to take because of the lack of time and resources), there are birds here too. Over and above this, I feel very much like the pioneers of this hobby must have felt when they had no guides or books or the internet to refer to while making their observations.


My daily walk to the Al Moweh garden has enabled me to closely observe the birds that are either residents here (i.e. those with "Iqama", LOL) or simply visitors ("Ziyarah"). In my earlier posts, I have posted photographs and several other details of the birds seen by me. This post is not about just listing the birds seen or showing you the photos. This is a more emotive post about what observing birds really means to me.


Not lacking the time and opportunity to observe my feathered friends, I have come to one important conclusion: even without a book, or camera, or the knowledge of which bird it is that one is seeing, bird-watching can be an immensely satisfying hobby. It is not easy to venture close to a bird, whose basic nature is to move away from advancing humans. There are a few Indian robins in the garden which have a keen sense of sight: the moment they see me (even when I am over 50 meters away), they move off into the shrubbery. If I dare to close in on them, they simply fly away and appear again at a distant spot with at least 100 meters between us.


Other birds, like the common chiff-chaff and the male of the common stonechat do allow me a slightly closer approach, but will still not enable me to get closer than, say, 15 meters. At times, they will stand still as I pass by them from about 5 meters away! It is sheer pleasure to see a pair of white wagtails remaining still on the path as I walk past them from within less than 3 meters! They will eye me continually, though, and they are poised to take off if I so much as turn my neck a little forcefully to look at them! Meanwhile, they will continue to wag their tails up and down, or hop a little ahead or away from me, and keep eyeing me from a distance.


The common stonechat male is a study in confidence; from flight, it will invariably land on the highest blade of grass on the green. Balancing itself on its nimble legs, it will keep fluffing its tail feathers and jacking up its tail from time to time, maybe every 10 seconds. If a barn swallow swoops low over it and flies past it, it will stumble a bit, then right itself and perch back on the same blade of grass again, preen itself again, and continue its odd behaviour till I get tired of it and move off. 


The chiff-chaffs are small, mostly silent, very restless, and move here and there on the green, pecking at insects to fill their tiny tummies. Every 20-30 seconds, though, they will take flight, move to the nearest shrub hover there for about 2-3 seconds, and then dive into the dark to do whatever they want to do. Thus will they remain for about 5 minutes or so, then re-emerge into the bright daylight to alight again on the green, from where they will repeat the cycle again.


The barn swallows are tremendously energetic birds. They continue to fly just 9-10 inches off the ground in circular and oval directions for half an hour, one hour or even more time. I have only rarely seen a barn swallow actually alight on the ground to preen itself. They must eat a lot of grub, as they seem to never tire. Zoom, swish, zoom, they keep up their routine tirelessly. It is fascinating to see them. When I leave the house in the morning to go to the hospital, there are about 3-4 barn swallows doing their above-ground dance there. In the garden, where I go daily in the evenings, they are there as well. 


And the sparrows: I think the world celebrated the Sparrow Day yesterday in honour of this species that has survived in all the countries of the world, although their numbers are steadily dwindling ever more. In Al Moweh, though, there is no dearth of sparrows. They are all over the town, perching on building  tops, shrubs, electric and telephone poles, trees (such as they are in this country), car tops, and so on. Long may they live, is all I pray for right now.


More on my passion some other day. Be blessed and enjoy life!

Days 114 and 115, Thursday and Friday, 8th and 9th March, 2012

A new weekend, but this time, there is nothing exciting to report from the work-place as, although I was on call, there were not many calls or admissions to attend to. I had an easy time, which I spent mostly in walking/roaming around, reading a book (The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple), cooking stuff (I made a potato preparation, some chapatis and mutton masala ... but the last named item gave me a lot of trouble as my first consignment got burned, and I had to make a fresh one; the entire process took me the better part of the day!).


My walks to the garden are becoming more interesting now, as I often go with my Canon DSLR and am able to shoot interesting birds. This week, a new type of bird visited the garden - there were about 5-6 of these birds that went krreeeee, krreeeee and flew with stretched wings above me; their colour was an iridescent bluish green, and methinks they were bee-eaters or some form of parakeets, but I am not sure, as on those two days, unfortunately, I wasn't carrying my camera. 


In addition to this exotic traveller, my last week was spent, while walking or jogging, in viewing the regular birds that are present in the garden; to wit, the Barn Swift, the female Common Bushchat, the Northern Wheatear,  the more recent visitor, the Black-capped Yellow wagtail,  the White Wagtail,  the Namaqua dove and the Tawny Pipit. Here are pictures of each of these birds:

Aside from these, I have also captured the Male common bushchat, the Paddyfield Pipit, and a few more birds .... but let's leave some of these for a later date, shall we?

That's all for now. Thank you for reading.

Day 48, Monday, 2nd, and Day 49, Tuesday, 3rd January, 2012

If I had been Sachin Tendulkar or Sehwag, and on the crease opposite Australians in the currently playing test match, I would have been very nervous as I am now close to completing my half century on this land that is Saudi Arabia. Well, I am not any of those people, and I am certainly not nervous, more jubiliant than I had thought I would be when I had come here over a month and a half ago. Thanks to the availability of the net, this blog, my readers (you, my dear friends), the cheap calls to my family and friends via VOIP every day, the quiet and calm of this small town, the unpolluted air, the friendly colleagues, the easy hours of work, the daily brisk walks and healthy food options that have enabled me to lose nearly 4 kilograms and the diverse activities that I undertake when I am free, I am quite content here. 


The last two days passed nicely enough. There were just 8-9 patients in the entire day on Monday, and even fewer on Tuesday. As I am not on ER duties, I was completely free to do my own thing after leaving the hospital in the afternoon. I must say that Monday turned up an unexpected surprise, and I worked on this surprise on Tuesday, so that I am quite happy here on Wednesday as I write this.


So, what exactly was the surprise, I can hear many of you ask me. The surprise was a 1 km walk along the main road of Al Muweh in the direction opposite to the one I take everyday to go to the Hospital. There is a garden here, sandwiched between the Tareeq Abdulla of Al Muweh and the Jeddah Riyadh highway.


A garden? Yes, a garden! I write this from hearsay that is possibly correct, since the sources include some informed people. The town has received generous largesse from the administration, and they have used this to decorate the town with lighted roadway lights, sculptures (made from stone, mud and wood), artificial and natural patches of greenery along the pavements on both sides of Tareeq Abdulla, and this garden, that was inaugurated last year. It is a landscaped garden (see photos on the new page I created to showcase the garden), with seats and umbrellas, and children's slides and swings, and a beautiful water fountain and just ahead, a water stream. Alas, children of this town have vandalised most of the artifacts. They have broken many of the toys, tilted over the seats, jammed the fountain nozzles so that its pump got burnt and play football where there is natural grass overgrowth so that the grass has withered away. Although I did not go close to the swings and slides, I think many of those are also broken.


In spite of the above problems, the garden was a sight for sore eyes. I visited it thanks to my room mate Dr. Niaz and his Pakistani friend who works in the Saudi Electric Co in a senior job as an overseer of connections and transmission of electricity in the entire region. This visit was between Maghrib and Ishaa  prayers, and we combined it with a rigorous walk that helped shed some flab (I hope). I resolved to re-visit the garden the next day with a camera. 


This is exactly what I did on Tuesday. I went there immediately after my return from the hospital, and I carried with me my Canon DSLR this time. The photos that I took there are in the new page I just created, and the photos of the birds I saw there are in the Photographs:Nature page.


Do read and comment on this post and also visit the photography pages to share your observations/comments. Thank you.

One more page added

There you are ... this new page shows all the plants, birds and reptiles I have seen so far since I came to this country. Not a very plethoric exhibition, but I am going to add to this page from time to time. Do take a look!

Birds in my housing society garden

I stay in SoBo, South Bombay for the uninitiated. My residential society is located near Mazgaon Docks, and is about 5 minutes from the Dockyard Rd. railway station. We are on the second floor, and our house balconies and windows face a terraced garden that was laid out about 10 years ago on the foundation of an old hillock which was not excavated by the builders in the eighties when the society was constructed.


Something amazing happened a few days ago, and I feel that I must share this with my readers: I had just finished my morning ablutions etc and, as I do most days, I was out in the balcony to look at the greenery that faces our place: the garden in our housing society has several old, large trees that are inhabited by the usual birds and insects; often, we see the Coppersmith Barbet, couples and juveniles of the Purple-rumped Sunbird, couples and juveniles of the Asian Koel, and. of course, lots of crows, sparrows and pigeons. From time to time, though, we have unusual visitors gracing our garden. I have seen, for a long time, a couple of Red-vented Bulbuls who have entertained me and anyone else who cares to enjoy them, with their antics and their beautiful sounds. There are, on many occasions, sporadic sightings of the Large-billed Crow and once, the Chestnut-shouldered Petronia. 


However, for the past fortnight or so, we had been privy to a bird song that was enchanting and attracted me to try and espy the bird. On this day that I am writing about, I finally identified the bird and matched it against its bird song on http://www.xeno-canto.org. It was the White-throated Fantail. Then, as I was observing the bird, a Male Oriental Magpie Robin made its appearance. It hung about for a long time, and allowed me to take several photographs. The next two visitors were a pair of Rose-ringed Parakeets who sat on the branches of a tree that is shedding its leaves (it being the season for shedding leaves) - and they, too, allowed me to take many photographs! 


As I was celebrating my good luck, I saw a flash of yellow in between the swinging branches of foliage - and what should I see, but a Black-naped Oriole! This was a pleasant surprise, but also, I felt doubtful, because these birds are normally seen in a jungle. I took pictures and checked my bird guide. The identity was confirmed. I felt as if I was on a cloud. My excitement caused me to post all the bird photos of that day, along with a new short status message on my Facebook Wall. I shared the photos on the "Indian Birds" group page on FB, and got several people to congratulate me on my photos and my good fortune. Some of them were frankly envious. 


Before I move on to share the photos here, let me also add that I have seen and shot pictures of the Red-whiskered Bulbul also in my society. And, to tell you honestly, this blog entry may have missed some of my other sightings. Oh, yes, here is one more: the Black Kite, which is seen on many days.


Finally, I must make a mention of a winged mammal that comes by after sunset and habitates a tree right opposite my window: the fruit bat. Several of their species make a lot of noise and ensconse on the tree for the night before flying away in the morning. It is a sight that is great to see.


Okay, so here are the photos: I could not get the Fantail, but the first two are of the Oriental Magpie Robin, the next two of the Black-naped Oriole, and final three, of the Rose-ringed Parakeets. Hope you liked them and this blog too.

Nature trip to Elephanta Island, 22nd May

After a longish period of no outings to fan my desire to see more of nature and specially birds, I finally went with the BNHS to Elephanta Island, where we went on a trail that cuts through the native village that is located on the island, looking for and hearing several birds and other living and non-living wonders of nature. This trip coincided with an important family function, but I decided to go anyway, mentally prepared to leave early if the trip lasted beyond half past eleven a.m.

I left home at half past six, reaching the BNHS office a little before 7 o'clock. There were very few enthusiasts when I reached, but they collected over the next half hour, and when we finally left for the Gateway of India (from where a ferry boat would take us to Elephanta Island (locally known as Gharapuri islands), the group of eager bird watchers and nature lovers had swelled to over 35 persons, some of them old faces, while the rest were new. Our guides for the trip would be Mr. Vandan Jhaveri and Mr. Vithoba Hegde. While the former is someone I have been with in many of the previous outings, Mr.Hegde is actually a taxidermist with the BNHS but today fulfilled the role of a field guide.

Within a few minutes of hitting the trail, we saw our first bird, viz. the red-whiskered bulbul. From then on, the next two hours saw us trying to spot, seeing and learning to identify many birds, the complete list of which is at the bottom of this post.

We started our return at about 11:30 a.m. and reached the jetty a little before 12 noon. We were quickly bundled into a boat, but the sea was choppy, and hence the return trip took a little over 1 1/2 hours. I touched the stones at Gateway a little before 2:00 p.m.

Okay, so I made new friends, among whom Meghna Kashte, Apoorva Rao, Amogh Wagh and Akshata Par are people whom I talked with and acquainted myself. And of course, I had my FIRST sightings of the Red-wattled Lapwing, Spot-billed ducks, Little Grebes, and some more feathered friends.

To see the photos, please visit this link.

Here is a list of the birds we saw: .

Oriental Magpie Robin
Red-wattled Lapwing
Spot-billed Duck
Black Kite
Little Grebe
Little Egret
Great Egret
Indian Pond Heron
Yellow sparrow (Petronia)
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black-headed Ibis
Purple-rumped sunbird
Asian Hornbill (some of the others saw this, but I missed it)
Common Iora (only heard)
Common Tailor bird (only heard)

Bird watching in the back-yard

... Or almost. In our society, we have a terraced garden, well endowed with flowers, interesting plants and at least six or seven full-grown trees, including two red cotton-silk trees, one tamarind tree, one jamun tree and a few others. I have almost never given undivided attention to our garden for the simple reason that we have taken it for granted.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to see an unusual bird among the branches of the cotton-silk tree. Its small crest and a red vent proved it to be a Red-vented Bulbul. I saw it and its mate several times during the day, but these birds were so active and busy that they did not allow me to get even one photograph.

 

The next bird to arrive was the Oriental Magpie Robin. This bird sat on the ledge that borders the walkway and the shrubs in the garden and started walking around on this platform, its tail going up and down with a ridiculously comic effect. I was watching it from my window, but I got in one photograph (see alongside: the bird is cleverly hidden but one can see it by the white strip on the left wing) before it flew away.

Then, after a short while, a tiny Purple-rumped Sunbird alighted in the branch of the tree opposite my window. Alas, it flew away as quickly as it had come.

I posted my sighting of the above two birds on my facebook wall, and proceeded to work. When I returned in the afternoon, I went to the window as soon as possible, and was immediately rewarded by the sight of a male Asian Koel. Over the next one hour, I saw and photographed two males and three females, and the next five pictures are of these birds sitting in various trees inside our society's garden.

 This photo shows a male Asian koel sitting below on a branch of  a small tree. The female is sitting above on another branch and facing me as I took the photo.

In the next two photos, you can see both the male and the female in the photograph on the left, while the male can be seen clearly in the photograph on the right.

 

 In the photograph on the left, one can see a male Asian koel with an unusual white throat patch sitting on the tree. In the final photograph (see below), one can see a female of the species camouflaging itself within the branches of the tree.

This completes the photographs of Asian Koels that I took today afternoon. Hope you all like them.