LT COL NOEL ELLIS
19/IX/2025
It was not the usual morning for me. As I drew the drawing room curtains open, there was something missing. It was our little darling Budgie called Mithee. We were already missing her. Hope her new home and companions will give her a long and happy life.
It was time to check the plants in the garden and meet my morning walker friends, who halt and chat awhile. We exchange notes and laugh a little. A good beginning to the day is what one looks forward to.
Just then, I heard a loud rattle of a Kingfisher. This guy is a regular visitor and he has been seen sitting either on our solar panel or on its lightning conductor.
Birds roam around in search of food. With fish galore in the waterlily tubs on the roof, they must be his major attraction. I am not sure how many he has polished off till now. One is yet to do a fish census.
Out of the blue a Dove came and nudged Mr Kingfisher and displaced him from his perch. Doves have a claim to every nook of our home as they come to enjoy grains and roti, we spread for them. How dare an intruder sneak in! The Kingfisher did not waste any time because it was breakfast time for him. He flew away rattling on the top of his voice.
When such beautiful moments could be captured, my camera goes missing. I decided to go around our common garden and see if I could catch some birds in action. The first one I met was ‘Polly’ dancing on someone’s lightning conductor. I did not get a clear shot due to the sun in my eyes.
School buses were rolling in, while young mothers with their kindergarteners congregated to send them off. It is also a meeting place. A time to exchange notes and recipes after the little ones leave.
A few finches were on the move. The fleeting opportunity they gave was too short to focus. I let them be. Sparrows and Sunbirds were on the prowl was what I could observe on the half bare ficus tree.
Then the eureka moment happened, when our kingfisher arrived on this tree to scan the area for his pickings. The unusual thing I noticed was his short tail. He had lost a major portion of it. There were just stumps growing out of his bums. Why could this have happened? Was it routine or were they in feather shedding mode? Or, they just have a short tail. I was not sure.
If a Kingfisher comes, can a dove be far behind? ‘Dovey’ came and perched close to Sir Kingfisher as if to tell him to ‘carry on’ as the boss had arrived. She cooed and cooed till the kingfisher got irritated and flew away to the roof of one of the houses.
As soon as Mr K Fisher left the dove quickly took his place as if to assert her dominance. This was my observation; as I am not sure what was the ‘birdie politics’ of ‘Kissa daali ka’.
Having cooed for a while Dovey flew away, probably confident that the kingfisher won’t return. In zoomed this beautiful, blue, white, brown feathered bird with a long and strong beak. In his beak he held something. It could be anything from a lizard to a grasshopper.
As I zoomed in to watch him enjoy his first morsel, it became clear that it was a juicy grasshopper in its beak. He struck it to the left and then to the right on the branch he was sitting on till he was reasonably sure that the soul of the insect was on its way to heaven. Then Sahib Bahadur gulped it down its throat.
The story didn’t end here. Now was the time for some rifle cleaning, like we in the army after firing our weapon clean it for the next firing session. HH the Kingfisher cleaned his beak on the same branch till he was satisfied that it shone like a brand new beak.
Having captured one insect, he went on the hunt for another one. This time without a sound. It was time for me to head home. As I was shutting down the camera, one of the young mothers asked me, “uncle ye ‘katfodwa’ hai kya”? Kathfodwa means ‘woodpecker’. I said, this is a Kingfisher.
The three young lasses covered their mouths with their hands as if they discovered something new. Thank you uncle they said in unison and uncle walked home to catch some breakfast before the mice in his stomach ran amuck.
Why did the Kingfisher have a short tail and will he return to pose for me again? I wonder!!!!!!
JAI HIND
©® NOEL ELLIS
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