Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep.....

Of late I have been waking up in the mornings to much chirping and cheeping . Not the " where's your mama gone..... chirpy chirpy cheep cheep ...."of that 70s Middle of the Road hit song but the real chirping, chirruping, cheeping, chatting, cawing, crowing, screeching, cooing and cheery calling of birds all around us at our home in Guwahati.

This is a far cry from the hum airconditioning in the Doha apartment, where the well sealed windows kept out traffic sounds when we slept till recently. Although, I must admit, Doha too surprised me with its birdlife. I have exclaimed at the guano mess created of the "guturgooing" pigeons that lived and bred on our balconies and ledges and watched sparrows flutter from palm tree to palm tree on the corniche, marvelling at how so many birds survive and indeed thrive in the heat and dust of Doha and amid the artificially built up urban areas. I suppose it is a combination of safe havens, usually from tree and foliage cover and availability of food that are the key elements of the habitat they need to survive.

There used to been many trees around our neighbourhood in this leafy corner of Uzan Bazar area of Guwahati  - a lovely Sonaru would burst into bright gold flowers every summer, and the road in front of our gate and the driveway would run blue from the squashed jamuns that fell from another tree and ripe jackfruit further inside the compound opposite our house would fruit heavily and attract many urchins to raid them. Alas, many of the trees have fallen or been felled to make way for the inexorable concrete jungle that is replacing our landscape surely and steadily. We ourselves had to chop down a raintree in our backyard some years ago when it started to pose a risk to our home every time there was a norwester because of its comparatively shallow roots, thereby displacing the noisy kites that lived in it.

My mother in law was fond of flowering shrubs and has put down a whole lot of them in our garden along with a Segun (a variety of teak), and Ashoka trees (that have grown tall and scraggly and are in need of a trim ). We have a tall pine tree that grew out of a flower pot given by a friend when they left town and from where it served as Christmas tree when the children were young. All these trees and shrubs offer perches and nesting cover to a host of birds that set off a rich symphony of sound from the crack of dawn right till dusk when they settle down to roost for the night.

Let me see,  if I can recount all the birds that I watch from my balcony every morning.....

There are the chirping house sparrows as they quarrel away furiously; the cheeping magpie robins that speaks in many different voices, of course the raucous and discordant 'murder' of crows whose numbers have dwindled somewhat (thankfully!) after the public garbage bin has been moved from outside our house ; the screeching parakeets that rush around in the mornings and evenings; the 'one for sorrow, two for joy, three for letter and four for
boy...' yellow billed house mynahs; the red vented Bulbuls that whirr from tree to tree; the occasional common Kite that soars calmly above all occasionally swooping down to catch its prey; there is the pretty Bluethroated Barbet with its distinctive staccato call;  the sweet and melodious Kuli (Cuckoo) calling for its mate;  and the tiny sunbirds whose loud calls belie their size as they flit busily among the flowering ixora bushes.  I have spotted a tree pie a couple of times very early in the morning and marvelled at their colourful racket tail. These days its egret (cattle egret) breeding season so our Ashoka and Segun tree is dotted with these pretty white birds with their bright orange plumage as they hunt for dry twigs to make their nests.



Monika our cook spotted a dove's nest amongst the dense foliage of a climber near the kitchen and having successfully hand reared fallen fledglings in the past, is the self appointed guardian of the dove's eggs keeping a beady eye out for predators

I have much to learn about these birds and their habits. I have read that each bird species, has its own distinct territory and location in the arboreal hierarchy. They feed on different foods and have different roles to play. The males and female bird of each species are also different to look at.  All quite fascinating and interesting. Maybe, its time to join a birding group?

I am not a good photographer and don't have the right lenses to capture these wonderful birds, so I have just shared a few casual photos of the view from the balcony and links of some bird sounds that I hear, via the internet and YouTube.... enjoy. Meanwhile, it feels good to be back and wake to this mellifluous natural orchestra along with my morning cuppa...