Day 48 - the romance of the munias

We had a power cut yesterday, as I mentioned in my day 47 post, and a day unplugged brought many great moments out of our balcony windows.

Today I shall write about the Scaly breasted munias that appeared after quite a gap. The last I saw them in thiruvanmyur was on 1st July this year, so 6 weeks ago.  

  

1020 am and I saw this one on the Teak tree.  Scaly-breasted munia or spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata)

It was backlit as it sat on this perch, and I have taken up the exposure and removed all shadows.  

I asked ChatGPT for some interesting facts about this bird, and it revealed some cute ones and some sad ones.

The sad one is that it is captured a lot for the pet trade - as all munias are - for their "calm nature and attractive plumage".  

Isn't the bird striking?  in a few minutes, a couple were sitting on the cable overlooking our balcony.  The camera and the photographer did a great job with this sequence of photos, and I am able to admire the "chainmail", scaly armour look in these photos.

We were privileged to witness their cute and charming courtship.

The seed offering ceremony - a seed or grain or piece of grass is offered by the male to the female.

A little twitter by the male and some bobbing and the male hopped towards the female, before the mating.

Munias form bonds for the season, I learnt, and so I am hoping this pair here, will soon be raising not one but many families through the season, building the nest together and sharing the parenting duties.

Next season, the same pair may or may not hook up.  Interesting little birds.

It was indeed one of those being at the right place at the right time moments.

The munias are not loud chirpers like the Tailorbirds, and quite often their presence goes unnoticed, so soft is their twitter and chirps.  They are vegetarian. grain eaters, and usually are around rice fields and grassy areas.  I wonder what this pair is feeding on.  

They will stick close together from now, moving in pairs, calling to each other and generally being lovey dovey.  They will preen each other, share food and fluff their feathers up.

Another Monsoon Beauty moment for me.  A first. Sometimes all we need to do is look outside and away from our screens. 

Thank you Sekar!