Birdsong – 1st Edition!

Change of season is glorious!

One – for it brings with it a variety of creatures around one’s home.

Due to mass urbanisation of our habitat, we rarely get to experience animals but we are blessed with a diverse mix of butterflies and birds! The frequency of both picks up from monsoon season and goes up to spring and slows down in summers. It is an incredibly enriching experience to watch these winged beauties in action!

This post introduces you to some of our regular feathered visitors around our home 🙂

Getting a chance to click these birds was a wholesome experience also because it introduced me to their names and brought my attention to the various species that surround our homes and our lives during different times of the year.

I had a delightful time learning about these beauties. It was a blessing to witness golden mornings replete with the song of another unknown bird each day who by the time I finished clicking their activities, became another known member of this vast multiverse. Welcome! ❤

There’s a lot of awe-inspiring beauty coming your way! Do read till the end!

 

Bulbul

Red-vented Bulbul.

This pair of Bulbuls lives on a Ficus tree across our home. They are called Red-vented bulbuls owing to their distinct red feathery bottom!

---

Sunbird

This vibrant blue bird is probably the most frequent visitor on a yellow Elder tree outside our home. It’s chirpy, naughty, colourful and quick! I have loved capturing its various movements and they follow below…

An adult male intermediate morph Sunbird feasting of Nasturtium flowers

A morph, or colour phase, happens when birds of the same species regularly develop more than one plumage colour. The morph plumage could be any colour: white, red, blue, grey, brown, etc. This sunbird showed a vibrant blue plumage with specks of yellow in its feathers! Gorgeous!

A Female Olive-back Sunbird or a Yellow-bellied Sunbird

An Olive-back Sunbird or a Yellow-bellied Sunbird is a tiny and active sunbird of forest edges, parks, and gardens; the most common urban sunbird throughout most of its range. Both sexes have a plain olive back, a yellow belly, and white tail edges that are flared out in flight. The male flashes an iridescent blue throat while the female has a yellow throat and eyebrow.

Courtsey: ebird.com

---

Tailorbird

“Singer and tailor am I– Doubled the joys that I know– Proud of my lilt to the sky, Proud of the house that I sew–

Over and under, so weave I my music–so weave I the house that I sew.”

– Darzee’s chant, Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The common tailorbird is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves “sewn” together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as Darzee in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens.
.
Spotting this little marvel of nature in our garden, chirping away from branch to branch, was a delight I cannot express into words. And just yesterday I landed upon a video of this ace tailor in the middle of sewing its nest! That’s when I realised that this is the same bird Mr. Kipling has truly immortalised in his prized piece of literature – Jungle Book!

---

Robin

A Male Indian Robin

A sparrow-sized black bird with a white patch on the wings and a rusty coloured patch at the base of the tail which is constantly twitched. The female is a dull brown with slightly darker wings and also with less capacity to sit still 😉

---

Green Pigeon

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

This vibrant bird with Purple eyes is a common species of green pigeon found in the Indian subcontinent. It is the state bird of Maharashtra.

I spotted this bird nesting on a tree branch from below and since it was inexplicably still, at first I thought it is a toy or is stuffed. Then after multiple moments, I caught it blinking and realised, here is a live bird nesting! It was a beautiful moment.

---

Indian White Eye

An Indian White-eye is a hyperactive little yellow bird with an off-white belly and white “spectacles.” Found in a wide range of habitats, from mangroves to gardens to forest edge; generally favours more open forested areas, not dense tangles. Travels in flocks, sometimes mixed in with other species. Gives bright but faint “zwee!” calls both while foraging and in flight.

Courtsey: ebird.com

---

Do share what you felt about this post.

Over time, especially during the lockdown, we have had a vast variety of birds visiting urban spaces. This is just the first lot of the many many feathered folks who visited us in the last 3-4 months. Second edition coming soon!

Stay tuned!

Love, Hina ❤