Skip to main content

NEST ON RENT

 NEST ON RENT

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

08/VII/2024

 

The Sunbirds are in action again. It could be the rains which have brought about some fresh josh in them. Now they come in groups to enjoy goodies in the Ellis’ Garden.

What caught our attention was their visits to their old nest which they built in April this year. In May, their chicks flew away. One didn’t know why they were returning to the place where Blackie & Brownie had raised Jinny & Johnny.

Could they be missing their old home? Were they about to raise more chicks?

The pair would make a short halt for a ‘dekho’ for danger. On confirming all clear, one by one they would visit the nest, gripping loose hanging twigs of grass. Once in a while, they would enter the nest and sit for a while. This was a bit unusual or could there be more than what meets the eye.

As I stood in the veranda to observe what these birds were up to, it appeared that Brownie could be hatching another clutch of eggs, I was not sure.

In a blink of an eye, Brownie whizzed past me carrying something in her mouth. It looked like a grass strand. Was she taking grass away from their nest? Generally, it is the other way around. They bring grass, feathers, & silky threads to build the nest and make it comfy. This activity appeared a bit unusual.

A little later the couple returned. A short hover before they caught hold of the nest in their claws. Then they would grab strands. Were they weaving or de-weaving it? The bird moved all around the nest on hover. Was it looking for something? Were they refabricating the nest?

Then what I observed was something I had never seen. This girl would find one end of a grass strand. While moving around the nest, loosen the nest with its beak, while on the hover, to untie the grass. After a few attempts, it would pull out that strand and fly away with it.

They were breaking their own nest. What could be the reason for doing so? Were they building a new nest somewhere else and utilizing old strands and threads? Were they recycling material from their old nest? Or, were they now slowly dismantling the old one to build a new one at the same place? I don’t know. Such questions kept churning in my mind.

The nest was a beautiful piece of art, it is now just a shell. The outer cover has been removed and probably as they remove various more strands, it might get disbalanced and fall off from where it is stuck between the fairy light wires. In my heart of hearts, I did not want the nest to go.

It appeared that these birds did not fear us. A thought passed my mind that they were removing all weak links of the nest and replacing them with stronger and tougher strands of grass and threads.

Could it be that Blackie & Brownie had given their nest on rent? The new couple were now doing modifications and repairs to their newly rented home as per their requirements like we humans do. A bit of polish, a coat of paint, some scrubbing and cleaning, some repair and plastering etc. They too were on the job.

Whatever they are doing, I wish them luck. If they stay around our home, we would be more than happy. Will they return to raise a new family? I wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND


© ® NOEL ELLIS







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

FINGER ON YOUR LIPS

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   29/IV/2025   What has happened to Pakistan? While India is doing Fauji Exercises, Pakistan has mobilised for what! I agree that the people of India want revenge. But, from whom? Our PM has only said that “we will not leave the terrorists and their supporters till the end of the Earth”. He has never said he will sort out Pakistan, or has he?   It has been hilarious watching discussions on Paki social media channels. They seem to have already given up. Our RM meets the PM and Pakistan starts shitting bricks. They talk about jazba and gazwa, and start telling us about their nuclear arsenal. 160 I suppose. By the way we will send across one equivalent to your 160 if need be.   There is a saying, ‘Chor ki Dari main tinka” literal meaning is, a straw in a thief’s beard. However, the deep meaning is that a guilty person reveals his guilt through his behaviour, even unintentionally. Clearly, “a guilty conscious needs no accuser”...

IF THERE IS A WAR…...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   28/IV/2025   I remember the 1971 war as a small child. We were in Kapurthala Punjab, very close to the Pakistan border. It was an evening in December, I do not remember the exact date. While returning from a friends house, the declaration of war was done as I skipped along the ‘Thandi Sarak’ of Kapurthala.   The gist was that a vehicle with loud speakers was telling people to head home as an "emergency" had been declared and war had started. I ran as fast as I could, shivering with fear and my heart beating unusually fast. Though I was a lap baby when the 1965 war had taken place, it appeared serious business now.   Overnight, Dad and other Uncles started digging trenches infront of our homes. Carbon paper was no dearth in a teachers house, so mom got into an overdrive to stick them to the glass windows. Though the glass had been painted during the 1965 war, some broken panes had been replaced. Mom told ...

SCENE AT ELLIS’ RESTAURANT

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   04/XI/2024   Every morning the scene in the Ellis’ restaurant is so refreshing. The notes birds sing sounds like ‘reveille’ being sounded by the buglers. The ‘scenario’ keeps varying with arrival of different birds at different timings.   It is like being a restaurant owner, working solo with minimum help. Yours truly is the waiter, housekeeper, cook, receptionist, barman, purchase manager, accountant, and storekeeper of this shack. Imagine!   Foremost thing in the morning is housekeeping of the garden area, followed by watering the pots. This gives the plants a nice bath, like kids being readied for school.   The first set of ‘clients’ called the ‘Tailor Birds’ appear. They love to hunt for insects which get disturbed by the watering ritual. They sing and dance, hop and skip and carry on chasing moths and worms, without bothering about my presence.   By then the Bulbuls and the Sparrows start lini...