JINNY & JOHNNY

 JINNY & JOHNNY

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

22/V/2024

 

It was a lovely morning and our garden was full of activity. Birds and the Bees were zipping and humming past to eat, drink or take a dip in the water bowl. Some were on a lookout for food, some were busy courting, some were fighting but the scene was full of life.

As time has gone by, these creatures have got used to us and we have learnt to respect their space. Birds feel comfortable. They hop and chirp freely. A bowl of water & a bowl of grain was all that was needed to win their trust. Now it is home for them. Rather, they get annoyed if we don’t refill in time.

Today, there was a surprise visit from Jinny & Johnny. They are chicks of our Sunbirds who hatched almost a week back leaving an empty nest. As soon as I saw them, I recognised them. The give away was their chirps and tweets. Their voice is yet to mature. The baby sounds were a dead give away.

Another giveaway was their tails. The adults have a tail of about two inches and these little ones just had half an inch of feathers jutting out from their back side. I instantly knew that these were J & J.

Hey! I said, do you recognise me? They continued to hop from branch to branch without paying any attention to me or the hose of water in my hand. I will wet you; I said pointing the water jet towards them. They continued to meander through the champa tree completely ignoring me.

The water jet created some artificial rain. Did they love it? You bet. Who taught them how to take a bath? Was it by instinct or they underwent training? J&J moved from leaf to leaf soaking their feathers on droplets & jiggle their body vigorously to shake off every single drop of water.

Want more? I asked inquisitively. I heard only excited chirrups.

B&B appeared from nowhere. Probably, when they heard the commotion in the champa tree and the excited tweets of their chicks, they came to check it out. The four of them enjoyed the sprinkle.

How is their health? I asked B&B. They are doing fine. We have taught them to catch a moth or two too. Just then both J&J started to flap their wings asking for a snack. Probably, the exercise they did got them hungry. Or, was it that they saw their parents and like kids started demanding food.

They are learning how to talk, said B to me. We are teaching them “tweetables” and they are picking up fast. You mean the syllables, I said. Tweet was the answer.

How do you keep them safe? Was my next obvious question. We hide in the dense foliage of the Almond tree right across your house. We leave our perch only when necessary.

I asked Blackie as to why he had been checking the nest quite a number of times. Yes said B. I do go and check the nest if it is really empty. After all our chicks were raised there and we have an attachment with our nest, like you guys have with your homes. I nodded silently at the intelligence of these birds and felt the same way, as our child too has been away from her nest.

Well then, you guys enjoy your bath and shikar, I said, while I finish watering the plants. As I was winding the hose pipe, J&J whizzed past my ear as if to say thank you to me for looking after them in their nascent stage. Maybe, the parents would have cajoled them to at least thank us for keeping their nest safe from predators.

A flying kiss and a goodbye wave were all that I could do before J&J along with B&B vanished into the bushes right across the road. It was painful to look at the empty nest.

Hope to see J&J also find their matches and raise their family around our home. We would love to welcome them back to see the nest alive again. When will that be? I wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND
© ® NOEL ELLIS