MORE NEW FRIENDS

MORE NEW FRIENDS

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

09/VI/2022

With birds now feeling at home in our vicinity. It appears that they will bring more friends along. I hear Parrots flying past quite high in the sky but haven’t seen them come closer to the trees around. One day there was a Kingfisher sitting on one lamp post in March, haven’t seen him since.

The other day, I was on a ‘photo op’ in the colony. Like a ‘flash’ across my eyes I saw a few birds entering the thick canopy of an Almond tree. My hunch said they were green pigeons, as I heard them talk in a very familiar green pigeon language. Foliage was so dense that there was no way to spot them. These guys are extremely shy & never pose so easily, unless caught off guard.

To catch them was my aim and I did so right infront of our house surprisingly.

I was busy clicking the Bee Eater yesterday, when a strange commotion in one of the Ficus trees caught my attention. A bird was trying to wriggle out of the meshed up branches. Because the sun was in my eyes, the colour of the bird got blurred. By the time I aimed my camera it was too late. My hunch nudged me, it was a ‘Green Pigeon’. Would it come again the next day, was a thought playing on my mind?

This morning when I didn’t have the camera in my hands, I saw the same commotion on the same tree which caught my attention again. It looked more like an oversized dove. I rushed for my camera and without wasting any time took multiple shots. It indeed was a ‘Green Pigeon’.

What was it doing so exposed on a Ficus tree? There was no food, which could have attracted it. There was no shade either where it could have camouflaged itself. Why was the bird there, kept bugging me?

It sat still for a while, trying to balance itself with the sway of the morning gust of wind. Once it stabilised things started to fall in place. It is nesting time for them and she was collecting twigs for her nest. She plucked one and discarded it. Plucked another and held it in its beak but it fell off. Then she twisted her body to catch hold of another one below its perch. She plucked it, inspected it and was convinced it was worth taking to the nest. Holding it in its beak, it flew off to another thicket across our house. Now I know where she hides.

I shall wait for it tomorrow for it to pose better this time. Maybe I shall walk up to the tree, where I reckon she might be nesting and request her to reveal her nest.

Another thing, if there is one green pigeon, there have to be others nearby. Their camouflage skills are so good, besides they just go motionless. The texture and tinge of their feathery coat is such that unless they show a move, it is almost impossible to spot them.

I felt so happy to see them after ages. In our previous location there were these huge Banyan and Peepal trees full of fruit for them to feed on and nest. They loved playing hide and seek. There they were much more vociferous. Sometimes they didn’t shy away from coming and sitting on our mango trees. One had a close encounter with them but with the naked eye. Catching them on camera was tedious.

Now that our new friends have been spotted, they shall be clicked. How soon would it be? I wonder!!!!!!!!!

JAI HIND