31 The Open Air Menagerie
With the orchards, flowering trees, and fields under cultivation; and with a river running along the one side, and open scrub land along the other, the ashram provides a variety of habitats which has made this place a veritable bird sanctuary. Between September and December this year I saw over 50 different types of bird in and around the ashram. The first I should mention are the Pigeons, domestic ones, that is, who are rather pampered and never leave the area. Their numbers vary as they reproduce quickly, but are also easy targets for snakes and others. They are very tame and will eat out of the hand. Their close relative, the Little Brown Dove, is quite the opposite, very shy and difficult to get close to.
The Pigeons are so well looked after that a pair of House Crows even took to imitating them in the hope of landing up just as fat as their friends. The House Crows are very numerous of course, but I’ve also occasionally seen the much more wary Jungle Crow larger than his cousin, and shiny black all over. In the morning or evening making a raucous noise in the trees or sitting on the overhead wires, are Black Drongos, also known as King Crows, though they are diminutive in comparison; they are excellent in flight, very quick and a delight to watch as they play chase through the branches, or pick an insect from the air. Earlier in the year there were a pair of Pied Cuckoos around, but it’s a long time since I’ve seen them. Invariably in and around the Kaniar tree we find a pair of Koels, who are much taken with the juicy bulb this tree produces. The female of this species wears a beautiful tweed coat, while the male has settled for plain black, they both have red eyes; as does the Coucal, or Crow-Pheasant, who has also been gifted with lovely russet wings.
Inevitably the Babbler is here, the Jungle variety, and over the past few weeks I’ve had the joy of watching them feed their young. I had taken to putting out some rice from my lunch for any birds who might be passing, and the Babblers soon caught on to the idea. They had just been nesting, and their little ones – who are as big as their parents – are voracious of appetite. They feed their young communally, and when the little darlings start fluttering their wings and crying helplessly, the nearest adult will pick up a grain of rice and shove it down their throats.
Others around include Indian Mynahs – there were lots of them in September, squabbling each night in the trees behind my kutir; and his high-caste relative, the Brahminy Mynah, more often seen in the cultivated fields outside the ashram. On the plains and in the fields around are to be seen White-throated Munias in small flocks who gather on the threshing floors, and at the first alarm, usually a false one, flee in to the nearest tree. There are Blue Jays, and Finch Larks, who both have spectacular courtship displays; and recently I have seen both Bay-backed and Rufous-backed Shrikes perched on bushes calling to their loved ones. Occasionally atop a large tree I’ve also seen a Crested Honey Buzzard, a large powerful bird.
Riverside are Red-Wattled Lapwings in some number, and their call often pierces the silence of the night; further upstream I’ve seen his Yellow-Wattled brethren. In November a Black-winged Stilt appeared, and within a week or two there were three, then five and seven; I saw 13 standing on the rocks the other day. Along the riverside are Sandpipers, and Grey Wagtails, who seem to spend most of the day fishing and eating. There are both Cattle and Little Egrets here, the latter are to be seen in small flocks on the top of a neem or mowa tree sometimes. I saw a huge Common Crane, the largest bird I’ve ever seen, in a tree across the water last week, and when after some time he took off you could hear his wings flapping from a couple of hundred metres away. Back by the river there is a single Large Cormorant holding his wings out to dry after emerging from the water – a fine swimmer this bird. Also going about their business are to be seen Indian Pond Herons, Indian Moorhens, and White-breasted waterhens.
Fishing in and about the river are both Pied and White-breasted Kingfishers, one of the latter of which joined us for Communion service one day, sitting on a branch nearby, watching us with a sceptical eye: all that fuss for a little wafer! Small Green Bee-eaters sit on wires, or branches, or fences, and fly at speed after their prey, returning on outstretched wings to their perches, or another nearby. Swallows, the Common lot, line up in numbers on the overhead wires, and fly gleefully through the air.
Bobbing through the network of reeds and grasses on the bank is the Ashy Wren-warbler, a tiny round bird with a long tail. He is quite fearless, and will come within inches of me when I’m sat in meditation. Other small birds around include Tickell’s Flower-peckers; and Purple Sunbirds – when I first got here Bhaiya showed me a nest this bird had made just outside his kutir window, and we sat and watched as the parents brought food for their young. Also about the place is the Common Iora, who is a rather musical fellow whose presence cheers up the orchard; and Tailor birds who wear an olive-green coat and a russet cap as they tweet-tweet their way through my hedge.
Some of the more unusual birds in the neighbourhood include the Black-headed Oriole, who has a dazzlingly yellow coat on; and in similar colours is the Yellow-cheeked Tit, who has a fine crest – I’ve only seen one here so far. In an acacia tree by the river one day I saw a White-bellied (and scarlet-rumped) Minivet. As the Hoopoe comes in to land up goes his zebra crest, and down come his zebra wings, he is carrot coloured elsewhere, and has a long conical beak. I was sitting at my kutir one time when I heard a familiar tap-tap-tap, and upon investigation found we were being visited by a pair of pygmy Heart-crested woodpeckers. Another bird with something of a beak to boast about is the Common Grey Hornbill, a rather lanky bird this, and his bill is a kind of two-storey affair, believe it or not.
In the orchard destroying everything in sight are two varieties of Parakeet: the Bluetailed, and the Rose Ringed, ringed around the neck that is, though the female doesn’t get to wear the necklace at all; and I’ve also briefly seen a Verditer Flycatcher who is splendid in his bright turquoise coat. Bushchats are here, the Pied ones, and the male looks very similar to the Magpie Robin. On the verandah of the guesthouse, or taking a shower under a leaking tap, there are Indian Robins, also known as Black Robins, though the race we have here are dark brown on their crowns, necks, and wings, and the female isn’t black at all but a delightful light brown. Recently I’ve seen a Redstart in the orchard, though his name too is slightly misleading as he’s more a salmon colour – as he perches on a branch his tail shivers nervously.
As I was lying on my back one day suffering from food poisoning on a bed not 10 metres away from the toilet, I saw 22 Vultures circling on a thermal overhead, as these birds are known to be uncannily sensitive to prey that might be dying, I thought they might be waiting for me, but eventually I recovered, and my friends, who were too high up to be further identified went their way.
One of the most common birds seen and heard around the ashram is the Red-vented Bulbul, whom the Lord saw fit to create with a scarlet bum, and a song during the mating season that gives glory to His name: Jay Prabhu
cows graze on golden grass
king crow rides on buffalo back
cattle egrets pick mites from hide
and bee-eater snaps up life
kingfisher plunges and rises to branch
and batters its prey to death
in hollow of ground men sit around
sheltering themselves from heat of sun
smoking, talking and passing the day
while the wheel of time rolls on
caught in thought man misses much
a self-made cloud obscures the world