A DAY WITH WIRE TAILED SWALLOWS

A DAY WITH WIRE TAILED SWALLOWS

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

19/VII/2024

My ‘eleventh sense’ is always correct is my firm belief now. The ‘hunch’ which pushes you to explore must never be underestimated. It may turn out to be your luckiest day. Let me elaborate.

After a good and refreshing downpour yesterday trees looked nice, fresh, and washed. Birds too were in a good mood. Some of them came flying like our helicopters follow a manoeuvre called ‘Nape of the earth’, these birds came flying at ‘nape of my head’.

Morning inspection made it clear that their grain bowl was overflowing due to the previous night’s rain. Grains were all soaked. Contents of the grain bowl were spread on the road to dry and fresh grain and roti was served for the birds.

That is when loud calls of peacocks reverberated in my ears. My intuition told me to move to the river front right away. A quick cup of tea and my Bullet & I rolled on that way.

The grains which the peacocks eat had got buried in the sand, so there were hardly any birds at their usual joint. I then decided to walk down and explore the riverfront.

To reach the river, one has to undergo all yoga poses. You twist, turn, twirl, bend double, and almost knot yourself meandering through thorny kikar bushes growing on the ledge. Finally, the river was in view.

‘Stilts’ got startled and sounded their alarm. An ‘Ibis’ came and landed, followed by a ‘Pond Heron’. A ‘Moor Hen’ was teaching her chick to feed. Too much was happening to absorb instantly.

I kept scanning the area when I got a glimpse of a pair of small colourful birds sitting on a kikar tree right in the middle of a puddle created at the effluent release point of our colony. From the STP, a cement pipe with a three-foot diameter opens its mouth in the river. The bird activity around the pipe was hectic.

The other day I caught a wire tailed swallow sitting on our windowsill. Due to the fading light, I could not fathom its colours then. Today, they shone in the morning light in full brilliance.

I froze, lest I disturb them. They were not very far from me. One of the birds kept sitting on a branch, while the other one kept flying away and would return in a while to her partner. "A pair in love" is what I reckon. Once in a while she would skim over the water, probably to catch an insect and come back.

Then my attention was drawn when she entered this cemented pipe just above the water level and vanished inside. A little later, she would emerge and go to the other end of the pond where the moor hen was feeding and start digging mud. Her partner kept sitting, facing the mouth of the pipe like a sentry.

On return she would first sit on the top of the pipe and then fly in. A little later, she would return to her partner and repeat the same process.

That is when I realised that two or three birds had entered the pipe. Was it an illusion? Or, did I catch the reflection of the birds? One partner was perched fixated on a branch. One bird sat on the pipe, two other birds went in and came out. Activity seemed frantic.

A thought struck me; could they be making their nests inside the hollow of the pipe. It was the safest place on earth. The outflow was constant and regulated which must have been observed by these birds. Insides were well protected from rain and couldn’t destroy or melt the mud nest. Food was available in plenty around. Plus, with one partner on guard, they could carry out nest building activities.

This led me to focus my lens to the inside of the cement pipe. The Swallows had obliged me by showing me their nests. Glued to the sidewalls of the pipe, I saw their nests. The ones at the entrance looked abandoned. The ‘active’ ones were deep inside. I wanted to venture in the slush but then changed my mind. There was no point disturbing them and getting dirty.

As I was adjusting my position for the final click, when my phone rang. I got disbalanced, trying to extract my phone and sat down in the slush. A senior had called. Now that one was wet and smelly, I continued in the same position and kept speaking, while the birds kept fetching nesting material.

My day was made. The birds had finally revealed the secret location of their nest. Thank you, my dear Swallows, for inviting me to see your nest.

Will they invite me when their eggs hatch? I wonder!!!!!!