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.

Trip to Ovalekar Wadi Butterfly Park

Please read this account of my trip to this fantastic butterfly haven here.

Some rumination

In my humble opinion, Nature watching and appreciating can be likened to worshipping God, as God created Nature. I used to think of this as a cliche, but, over the last several months, I have come to sincerely believe that God created us, intellectual beings, so that we could admire His handiwork and praise Him for his craft. 

Although I haven't travelled far and wide to seek Him through Nature watching, whatever experiences I have had have reinforced this truth in my heart. In these past months, I have seen, and most times, captured on camera, nearly 300 to 400 of His creations; I am just giving a rough idea of the variety that exists in Nature that is discernible even to a lowly traveller like me. Off-hand, I would say that this sample may not account for even 0.01% of His bounty. However, to see the myriad species of trees, flowers, non-flowering plants, insects, birds, mammals, and what not - the mind boggles at the thought that after 8-9 months of serious Nature watching, I am almost near where I started. Maybe I might have shifted just a little, but I have a lot more to see in this big, wide world of ours, and what I have achieved so far is so little, and yet, so significant!

My pediatric practice continues as before, but come the weekend, and my heart urges me to leave the work place and go somewhere, anywhere where there is a chance to see Mother Nature in all its glory. I often reach home in the afternoon and, without lunch, I pick up my camera and rush to go either to the local zoo, which is less than 2 km away from where I stay, or somewhere within 5-6 km radius where I am likely to see some greenery/life.

My portfolio of photographs has grown, and how! I have more than 500 photos now, and they are on my computer's hard disk, some located within folders describing one particular trip, and some within folders for one particular type of living thing - e.g. a folder on insects. I have begun to display these photos on Facebook, on this blog, and also published some on external sites on invitation (check out my article on Ovalekar Wadi Butterfly Park, Thane, on this site).

The surprise is that although my younger daughter does accompany me on many of these outings that I go to, she hasn't, as yet, developed any keen interest in Nature watching. It is obvious from my wording that neither my wife nor my elder daughter are in the least interested in this hobby or passion that I have nurtured.


Diwali was today, and I was standing outside my bedroom and watching the terraced garden that graces the view when I heard the typical call of the white-throated fantail - a bird that has a fan-like tail, and a song that is beautiful to hear and so soothing! I looked in the vegetation, and sure enough, there was the bird, flitting from one shrub to another, pausing only a while to sing that melodious nine-toned song once again.


And then, the unthinkable happened. Someone lighted a chain-fire cracker just below my house, and with the staccato sound of the cracker, the bird flew away, never to again return to the same shrubs for the rest of the morning. 


This is what really pains me: humans never think of the collateral damage they produce when they pursue something so inane as bursting crackers on this occasion. Think of the damage caused to birds on the kite-flying day, on Holi, and on the several such festival days throughout the year.