STRANGE ENCOUNTERS

 STRANGE ENCOUNTERS

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

14/IV/2023

 

There are two types of Bulbuls which hang around our garden. One with ‘yellow bums’ and the other with ‘red bums’. one would miss this difference because a Bulbul is a Bulbul is a Bulbul for most of us. Not that I like to watch the bulbul’s bums but nevertheless, it’s a pretty site.

 

These birds like to swing and dance on the hanging pots and all wires that are hanging around. Our neighbours are still in Happy Diwali mode so the strings of fairy lights become their playground. Mind you they are territorial. The yellow ones chase away the red ones especially over Roti.

 

A quick bite on roti. If I am watering the pots, a moth or two would buzz out making an early morning juicy snack for them. Then they fly to their watering bowl followed by a dip in their bird bath pool. Once this ritual is over they perch on the tree and dry themselves.

 

The sparrows are cunning. They wait for these Bulbuls to fight or scare imaginary reflections on the car windscreen. Once they ascertain that the bulbuls are busy, they steal a few pieces of roti. Bulbuls swoop to scare these little birds away. It is fun to flick a few morsels from the other gangs feed.

 

Doves don’t care. Roti doesn’t interest them. They focus on grains. A patient wait on the nearby tree for all human activity to subside is a signal for them to descend on the grain feeder. Even if we are sitting and enjoying our cup of tea in the veranda, they don’t mind our company. Twenty to thirty grains and then a few sips of water is enough to see them through till the evening.

 

By the way, they allow the sparrows to feed with them. In case two doves enter the feeder to eat, there is hardly any space left to even see the grain. Sparrows are persistent and squeeze themselves between the two doves. A change of page of the newspaper distracts them and they flutter off only to return, considering it to be a false alarm.

 

This morning while I was watering the hanging pots, one yellow bum bulbul came and sat on the particular pot I was watering. Gripping the pot’s support, it spread its wings challenging me to stop watering and move away. I teased her and sprayed her with a shower of water. She flew away, only to return and was adamant on me to leave. I backed off.

 

Something was amiss. I had to check it out. My apprehension that she was nesting was correct when I stood on a stool to see why this bird was so aggressive. In the thicket of that shrub one couldn’t make out so I brought down the pot. Lo and behold there were three tiny spotted eggs in a finely knit nest. Surprisingly not a blade of grass or a twig was ever seen on the floor which is a tell tale sign of a nest.

 

The fine threads of the nest were the meshy roots of plants which I had replotted last month. The root bound plants tend to get infected with disease. Also, due to lack of nutrition,  the size of its flowers reduces. Those thin, dry and fibrous roots became ideal building material for the Bulbuls nest. The selection of nesting material amazed me.

 

The siting of the nest was under the garage roof. There would hardly be any disturbance there. Above all, the place is in shade. I felt guilty for wetting its eggs and wondered how she would dry them. Probably her body heat would do the trick. Bird brains are not to be taken lightly. It was a lesson for me.

 

I promise not to disturb the nest or wet it again, as I already have another pot with the same plant. Why didn’t I know that Ms Yellow Bum was nesting? I wonder!!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

 

© ® NOEL ELLIS