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BIG FLOCK OF SMALL BIRDS


 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

07/VIII/2025

 

These days I love to watch the ‘water birds’ going home to roost in the evening. They fly at a leisurely pace, flapping their wings just at the right speed to conserve energy for the night. They stop flapping their wings in intervals when they just hold their extended wings and glide.

 

The flocks are small and most of them fly solo. It is only the ‘Demoiselles cranes’ which fly in huge groups. One has counted 102 of them flying in formation. Their arrival time is fast approaching. We shall look forward to catching them in the camera as when they approach their traditional feeding grounds.

 

Smaller birds come in massive numbers. Sometimes your camera cannot frame them in one go. They are fast, fleety, constantly changing directions & making waves. Those ‘black clouds’ circle around for a very short duration and disappear before you realise their presence. One has to be lucky to catch them.

 

The other birds which come to have their final drink are not bothered about what is happening in the skies above. They focus on drinking water. A quick sip and off they go. They arrive singly or in pairs.

 

Now that we all are familiar with each other, they are not scared anymore. Rather the birds demand to spread their grains and top up the water bowls. They announce to everyone that the feast has been laid. Within seconds, their friends who are loitering around in the neighbourhood arrive out of thin air.

 

Birds are very alert to the presence of a cat in the vicinity. They raise alarms, which can be heard by all other birds nearby to watch out for danger. These birds have patience. They do not land at the feeder till they are absolutely sure that they shall not be disturbed. One jerky move of even a leaf flapping with the wind can make them scamper and return only when the coast is clear.

 

Some come with their chicks. As most of them who nestled in the summer, their babies have grown into adults. By the looks, one cannot make out the difference between a juvenile and a full grown bird. However, their mannerism is a big give away. Chicks can feed themselves, but the moment mom arrives on the scene, they start flapping their wings in quick succession, begging for food.

 

Mom, out of love and affection shoves a morsel or two into the chicks mouth. Dare any other bird, even from the same specie comes close to where mom and baby are feeding. The outsider is bound to get a nasty peck from mama birds sharp beak. “Go away”, is what she means and ensures.

 

My friend and I were discussing something in our garden today and sipping our customary tea. One ‘tailor bird’ found a cupped “Patthar chatta” or ‘Kalanchoe Pinnata’ leaf holding water after the morning watering. She didn’t bother that we were speaking loudly. She just enjoyed a bath in that bathtub.

 

Both of us enjoyed the bathing scene, which also reminded us to have a bath ourselves. These girls are so cleanliness conscious. Same is the case with the Sunbirds. They enjoy a bath in the champa tree which I wet for them, or the papaya leaves on which some water sticks after a sprinkle.

 

My catch of today was a flock of egrets going home and a big flock of birds which I could not identify, meandering overhead. Probably, they could be “larks”. They vanished before I could imagine. I shall be on a lookout with better preparation to capture them as a whole flock in my camera.

 

Will they return tomorrow? I wonder!!!!!!

 

https://youtu.be/K9gqBEOSozc

 

JAI HIND
©® NOEL ELLIS

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