Showing posts with label Poems/rhymes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poems/rhymes. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

January wanderings on ECR

 Jan 10th 2024



Indian Maritime University Recce visit - eBird Trip Report

50 species not counting the warblers and other scrub birds that we did not have time to focus upon.  So here's a rhyme to celebrate.

There was once a trio of MNSers

Nothing in common, but all birders

To IMU we drove

And found a treasure trove

A marsh full of Warblers and Plovers.


There were Egrets and Pelicans galore

Garganeys, Pintails, Ibis and more

so much joy and delight 

Spoonbills in flight

Oh wait!  Godwits in 100s, furthermore!


Then the dogs, who felt ignored

Into the marsh, they  crashed, quite bored

The Godwits flew off

And the Lapwings did scoff

“Did you do it”, they called, and soared.


And how can I forget those Grey Francolins, endearing

Across the road they went. to the edge of the clearing

I counted seven

Quite a procession

And all through our walk we heard them calling.


Openbills flew across along with Painted Stork

Drongo, Coucal, Treepies did disembark

A Roller flashed blue

And the Kingfisher flew

Oh that sweet call - a Jerdon’s Bush Lark!


Powder Puffs played host to many Purple Sunbirds aglow

A Solitary, stock-still Thickknee in the scrub below

We rounded the corner

And there found a charmer

An Oriole above, a flash of sunshiny yellow.


And then as a finale, on a faraway stone

A raptor for sure, that did our goodbyes postpone

A Falcon, a Peregrine

Its claws it did preen

Enjoying the sun and solitude, but no not alone.


We will be back at IMU, that is for sure

The AWC will be a joy and a sinecure

When we go birding

The uncertainty is rewarding

And the company brings laughter in good measure.


And here are the photos:

From Sunbird

From Ramesh

Bauhinia

Rosy Milkweed Vine




Friday, December 15, 2023

The Sunbird

 

Blue Skies
greens and browns
my window frames.

Quiet sunbird!
Yellow breast reflecting in
my window frames.

Watching sunbird
Catching her reflections, in
my window panes.

Working moms
exchanging glances, through
my window frames.

A moment's experience
a connection in a blink, through
those window frames.


Female, Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Those painted grasshoppers are back

 Sept 6th and 7th


Poekilocerus pictus 

On Calotropis

Coloured and painted, you'd think it would cheer us

but beware, that toxicity cld afflict us

23, chewing Calotropis poisonous


So, we can squirt you, dont you mess with us

I know, I shall leave, I'm no ignoramus!




Thiruvanmyur 4th seaward road thickets - the milkweed are filled with painted grashopperss.



Saturday, December 31, 2022

2022 - the birding year that was

The birding year that was - A hat tip to my MNS Backbenchers


A trip to Perumbakkam in early Jan

Wigeons and Shovelers, was how it began.

Kentish plover in February 

at the mouth of the estuary,

The sea shells were not part of the plan. 


Nanmangalam was the highlight in March

When I spied the Jerdon’s Bush lark

Valparai,  in April

Pitta,  Thrush thrills,

And the Flameback hammering at the bark. 


Thiruvanmyur in the heat, all of May

Hellos to those red vented bulbuls, everyday

The koel all through June

matched my mood with its maddening tune

A life’s journey ended that day. 


The TS brought some cheer in July

I watched the beeeaters swoop and fly

Soil, earth - TTUF in August

lapwings shrieked and fussed, 

As though we were there to pry. 


Already it is September

and the pelicans on pylons I remember

Rain-drenched Mishmi in October

That Sultan Tit and Red-headed trogon, not at all sober, 

Those colours!  In my memory forever.


ECR outings and friends in late October

Terns, Whimbrels, pied kingfishers and laughter, still linger, 

marshlands in November

Osprey and Marsh Harrier

My raptor watch attempts I confess were meagre 


While Our fledged offspring took precedence in December

But still, those 3 score Black Kites in Andheri, soared in splendour

And so the year ended, 

My heart will be mended

Wigeons and Shovelers, at the wetlands once more. 

 *****


The first birding year where I have seen 200+ species.  


2022 list

  • Rock Dove
  • Rose-ringed Parakeet
  • Common Myna
  • House Crow
  • Spot-billed Pelican
  • Indian Peafowl
  • Garganey
  • Northern Shoveler
  • Eurasian Wigeon
  • Indian Spot-billed Duck
  • Northern Pintail
  • Jacobin Cuckoo
  • Common Moorhen
  • Eurasian Coot
  • Grey-headed Swamphen
  • White-breasted Waterhen
  • Little Grebe
  • Red-wattled Lapwing
  • Pheasant-tailed Jacana
  • Bronze-winged Jacana
  • Common Sandpiper
  • Painted Stork
  • Asian Openbill
  • Oriental Darter
  • Little Cormorant
  • Black-headed Ibis
  • Black-crowned Night Heron
  • Indian Pond Heron
  • Eastern Cattle Egret
  • Grey Heron
  • Purple Heron
  • Great Egret
  • Intermediate Egret
  • Little Egret
  • Eastern Marsh Harrier
  • White-throated Kingfisher
  • Common Kingfisher
  • Blue-tailed Bee-eater
  • Brown Shrike
  • Barn Swallow
  • Blyth's Reed Warbler
  • Pied Bush Chat
  • Purple Sunbird
  • Paddyfield Pipit
  • Shikra
  • Greater Flameback
  • Rufous Treepie
  • Common Tailorbird
  • Yellow-billed Babbler
  • Red-vented Bulbul
  • Spotted Dove
  • Kentish Plover
  • Black-tailed Godwit
  • Common Redshank
  • Common Greenshank
  • White-browed Bulbul
  • Watercock
  • Spotted Redshank
  • Caspian Tern
  • Whiskered Tern
  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Grey-headed Lapwing
  • Little Stint
  • Wood Sandpiper
  • Brown-headed Gull
  • Pied Kingfisher
  • House Sparrow
  • Fulvous Whistling Duck
  • Ruddy Shelduck
  • Eastern Spot-billed Duck
  • Grey Francolin
  • Greater Coucal
  • Common Hawk-Cuckoo
  • Ruddy-breasted Crake
  • Greater Flamingo
  • Pied Avocet
  • Ruff
  • Common Snipe
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Glossy Ibis
  • Eurasian Spoonbill
  • Black-winged Kite
  • Booted Eagle
  • White-eyed Buzzard
  • Eurasian Hoopoe
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Indian Golden Oriole
  • Indian Paradise Flycatcher
  • Blyth's Leaf Warbler
  • Clamorous Reed Warbler
  • Zitting Cisticola
  • Plain Prinia
  • Oriental Magpie-Robin
  • Streaked Weaver
  • Indian Silverbill
  • Scaly-breasted Munia
  • Black-throated Munia
  • Tricolored Munia
  • Western Yellow Wagtail
  • Citrine Wagtail
  • Blue-faced Malkoha
  • Laughing Dove
  • Ashy Woodswallow
  • Jerdon's Bush Lark
  • Red-whiskered Bulbul
  • Common Babbler
  • Indian Robin
  • Forest Wagtail
  • Striated Heron
  • Indian Pitta
  • Malabar Whistling Thrush
  • Pale-billed Flowerpecker
  • Indian Swiftlet
  • Crested Serpent Eagle
  • Black Eagle
  • Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
  • Streak-throated Woodpecker
  • Plum-headed Parakeet
  • Orange Minivet
  • Long-tailed Shrike
  • Indian Black-lored Tit
  • Black-headed Bulbul
  • Indian White-eye
  • Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
  • Brown-breasted Flycatcher
  • Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  • Asian Palm Swift
  • Crested Honey Buzzard
  • Chestnut-tailed Starling
  • Eurasian Collared Dove
  • Ashy-headed Green Pigeon
  • Common Buzzard
  • Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
  • Common Iora
  • Grey-chinned Minivet
  • Scarlet Minivet
  • White-throated Fantail
  • Striated Bulbul
  • Golden Babbler
  • Yellow-throated Fulvetta
  • Small Niltava
  • Verditer Flycatcher
  • Blue Rock Thrush
  • Orange-bellied Leafbird
  • Streaked Spiderhunter
  • Russet Sparrow
  • Grey Wagtail
  • Olive-backed Pipit
  • Maroon Oriole
  • Marsh Babbler
  • Grey Bush Chat
  • White-rumped Munia
  • Whiskered Yuhina
  • White-naped Yuhina
  • Stripe-throated Yuhina
  • Little Forktail
  • Plumbeous Water Redstart
  • White-capped Redstart
  • White-browed Wagtail
  • Black Drongo
  • Brahminy Starling
  • Green-billed Malkoha
  • Besra
  • Red-headed Trogon
  • Great Hornbill
  • Blue-eared Barbet
  • Rufous Woodpecker
  • Pied Falconet
  • Large Woodshrike
  • Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
  • Common Green Magpie
  • Sultan Tit
  • White-throated Bulbul
  • Ashy Bulbul
  • Black-crested Bulbul
  • Jungle Myna
  • Lesser Whistling Duck
  • Swamp Francolin
  • Yellow-footed Green Pigeon
  • Temminck's Stint
  • Grey-headed Fish Eagle
  • Black-hooded Oriole
  • Red-rumped Swallow
  • Striated Grassbird
  • Siberian Stonechat
  • Purple-rumped Sunbird
  • Eastern Yellow Wagtail
  • Rosy Pipit
  • Oriental Pratincole
  • Little Ringed Plover
  • Asian Green Bee-eater
  • Pacific Golden Plover
  • Indian Cormorant
  • Eurasian Golden Oriole
  • Black Kite
  • Brahminy Kite
  • White-spotted Fantail
  • Loten's Sunbird
  • Great Cormorant
  • Yellow Bittern
  • Ashy Prinia

Saturday, August 6, 2022

A limerick ode to Purple Rain


A tree stands, hungover,
wanting, it seems, to be here
moreover.

Syzygium cumini
Branches untidy
Fruits aplenty.

Drops purple squish, in season
beyond belief and reason.
Ignored by birds, bees and humans
and watching it go waste, such treason.

I try to pick them off the floor
but alway the grit is more.
Damaged and bruised are they by the fall.
I need a net, to catch them all!

Thanks to my faithful reader Sagarika
From the land of Jambudvipa
through these lines I proclaim-a
the plentiful and wild, purple rain-a.


Monday, January 3, 2022

Parakeets

 

Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) - female and a juvenile, judging by their lack of the rose-ring.




The one on the right was feeding the scruffy one on the left


Rose-ringed parakeet
but they were not ringed,
mother and chick, my gaze they meet.

Everyday they screech and whizz by
a green flypast,
red strong beak, my oh my.

Excitable and grumpy, scrumpy and plumpy,
they gather together
on badam tree, colours funky.




Bulbuls and munias, barbets I see
mynahs and crows, more than twenty three.
And now a peacock has been added to the mix
My balcony birding
gives me quite a kick and a fix!

Thursday, May 6, 2021

My fitness coach - A Lazy jumbled verse


He's dark and handsome
Like a shadowy phantom
This fitness coach
of mine

He caws his approval
As I work up a sweat 
Exhorting me, to situp 
number twenty nine.





As I huff and I puff, burning
those  calories 
My coach shows no mercy,
Oh to stop would be divine! 



His high standards I do not meet,
Or so I am guessing,
from the dish that is  resounding
beneath his disapproving feet.



Ah the relief, I am finally done!
but hey, the phantom, 
In a blink he is gone.

A fleeting shadow across my face
As he takes to the skies
And the wide open space.

A caw in goodbye
till we meet again!


Thursday, April 2, 2020

Lockdown diaries - A tree lifer

April 2nd 2020

Morning perambulations
Turn the corner
A sweet fragrance
Joy!

Shenbagham flower - Magnolia champaca - the heady and sweet floral fragrance that perfumers love - blooming here and now.
I thought of Janani and of Tanya and of our fragrance testing and the emotions of smell.  In Nature, the fragrance of the Sampige or shenbagam is rich and sweet and yes, joyous.  Something about natural fragrances, they are delicate yet strong, lingering yet effervescent..

It was my first time seeing a champaca tree in bloom!
Tagore's - The Champa Flower.  this one is for you SG and your Champa at home.

SUPPOSING I became a champa flower, just for fun, and grew on a branch high up that tree, and shook in the wind with laughter and danced upon the newly budded leaves, would you know me, mother? 
You would call, 'Baby, where are you?' and I should laugh to myself and keep quite quiet.
I should slyly open my petals and watch you at your work. 
When after your bath, with wet hair spread on your shoulders, you walked through the shadow of the champa tree to the little court where you say your prayers, you would notice the scent of the flower, but not know that it came from me. 
When after the midday meal you sat at the window reading Ramayana, and the tree's shadow fell over your hair and your lap, I should fling my wee little shadow on to the page of your book, just where you were reading. 
But would you guess that it was the tiny shadow of your little child?
When in the evening you went to the cowshed with the lighted lamp in your hand, I should suddenly drop on to the earth again and be your own baby once more, and beg you to tell me a story. 
'Where have you been, you naughty child? '
'I won't tell you, mother. ' That's what you and I would say then.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

A Harlem summer dawn

Silhouetted Brownstones
Shimmering windows
Weedcutter goats 
and
Hudson glimpses through the posts.







Saturday, September 21, 2019

Sunshine on the wall

Catopsilia pomona, the common emigrant or lemon emigrant - resting on my wall


Come, rest for a while,
scraps of sunshine
flitting across my view.

At the traffic light, I watch
your crazy parabolas
two by two.

Have the rains signalled
your departure?
Are you leaving for the hills?
Emigrant  that you are
Thanks for stopping by.



Monday, December 18, 2017

The treepie


The treepie called me to my window.
Softly,
Like water dripping in a pool
Bob-o-link, bob-o-link.

The teak tree leaves and the wind did their best to hide it from me.
I caught but a glimpse.


Why do I smile so?



Rufous tree pie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) on the teak tree (Tectona grandis) in my neighbour's garden.

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Urban musings

The days rush and blur.
Pause.
My garden blooms fade even before I get to know them.



Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Sunday, March 27, 2016

The Wounded Otter

The Wounded Otter | Books | The Guardian



A wounded otter
on a bare rock 
a bolt in her side, 
stroking her whiskers 
stroking her webbed feet. 
Her ancestors 
told her once 
that there was a river, 
a crystal river, 
a waterless bed. 
They also said 
there were trout there 
fat as tree-trunks 
and kingfishers 
bright as blue spears - 
men there without cinders 
in their boots, 
men without dogs 
on leashes. 
She did not notice 
the world die 
nor the sun expire. 
She was already 
swimming at ease 
in the magic crystal river.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Basho and me

Wanderer, nature poet and philosopher. Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa aka Basho, Haiku Master.

I was reading his Haikus yesterday, and these ones particularly stuck in my head as so apt for the wanderers in our family.

Wake! The sky is light!
let us to the road
again . . .
Companion butterfly!

Copsia-petal
fell in silent dawn . . .
spilling
A water-jewel.
(The original Basho was with Camellia) 
Ah me! I am one
who spends his little
breakfast
Morning-glory gazing.



Long conversations 
beside blooming amarylses – 
joys of life on the road.
(The original Basho was with irises) 


In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued
hibiscus . . .
A lovely sunset

Lady butterfly
perfumes her wings
by floating
Over the orchid.

Silent the old town . . .
the scent of flowers
floating . . .
And evening bell.
I'm a wanderer 
so let that be my name – 
the first winter rain 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

A January 1st filled with bird song and children's laughter

During our Rishi Valley term visit
At the guest house.

In the senior school, a pair of Collared Scops Owl have taken residence.  One of them looked down at me with amusement (I thought) as I tried not to look nervous at the thought of meeting my son's teachers!!

The sugarcane was flowering, and the bulbuls were delighted.

The Baya weavers were gearing up for the nesting season

The cloud cover kept us warm
The parakeets were not discrete
The munias were such a treat.

The oriole lurked among the branches
As did the coucal, making no advances.

Why does birdsong always fill my heart?
Or was it the the sight of our son, so long apart?





Friday, September 13, 2013

Assam Day 8 and 9 - Pobitora, adjutant storks and the civet cat

Pobitora - has been in the news lately.  Denotified as a sanctuary by the Assam govt, a decision then thankfully stayed by the Supreme Court...