Patch birding in the neighbourhood

eBird Checklist - 20 Oct 2024 - 18 species

October 20th, Sunday 730 am

Patch birding on an empty plot that has water puddles and scrub overgrowth. Overnight rains. Now sunny.  This is an empty shrub-filled plot, off the main beach road at Thiruvanmyur.

3 Red-wattled Lapwing
1 Eurasian Hoopoe
1 Common Kingfisher (Small Blue Kingfisher) - what a nice surprise.  Sat on the wall next to the G Square developed plot.
1 White-throated Kingfisher
4 Blue-tailed Bee-eater
1 Coppersmith Barbet
2 Rose-ringed Parakeet
2 Black Drongo
1 Brown Shrike (Brown) - just shows the difference between incidental birding and binocular birding.  I saw this because I had a pair of binoculars with me.
7 House Crow
2 Large-billed Crow (Indian Jungle)
4 Common Tailorbird
1 Ashy Prinia
4 Barn Swallow
1 White-browed Bulbul
4 Common Myna
5 Purple-rumped Sunbird
1 White-browed Wagtail (Large Pied Wagtail) - Now I was delighted to see a pair of them later on the beach, foraging around the temporary lake/river that has been created from the stormwater drains that are emerging on the beach.  They hopped and flew all around the periphery, chittering to each other as they went.  

Number of Taxa: 18

The wildfowers in the thickets are here.  I also saw some dead marine creatures, which was not nice at all.

The patch where I saw all these birds.

I went on to the beach and the Valmiki Nagar thickets.

I love wandering in these thickets, you never know what you will find.  Today was a butterfly day.

The cricket match had driven the birds away, I guess.

My Valmiki Nagar thicket ebird list here.  Blue-tailed bee eaters were doing their aerial dives and a lone black Kite flew over the water's edge.

The sea looked lovely, and the clouds gave me a bit of shade every now and then.  

The waves fizzed back and forth, but the sand had these green algal residues, perhaps the phytoplanktons causing the bioluminescence these last few nights?

All it takes is a few trees - Mumbai birds

eBird India Checklist - 3 Dec 2023 - Dosti flamingo complex - 14 species

I didn't see the flamingos since the Sewri spot is now inaccessible.  

Dosti flamingo complex
03-Dec-2023
6:46 PM
Traveling
2.01 km
66 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Empty plots around have fig trees


30 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
1 Asian Koel
6 Black Kite
1 Coppersmith Barbet
1 Alexandrine Parakeet
7 Rose-ringed Parakeet
1 Spot-breasted Fantail (White-spotted Fantail)
9 House Crow
2 Common Tailorbird
1 Blyth's Reed Warbler
2 Red-vented Bulbul
5 Purple-rumped Sunbird
6 Indian Silverbill (White-throated Munia)
25 House Sparrow

Number of Taxa: 14

In the heart of Sewri, it just takes a couple of fig trees and a Jackfruit to create a little haven for birds, it seems. 

The Alexandrine, the Silverbills and the fantail were such a delight. 

A Mocis frugalis - Sugarcane Looper -Identified via iNaturalist - spent the night on our room curtain.

A Blue pea vine had these beautiful blooms.

The Banyan did not have much bird activity and I wondered why.

It was the Jackfruit corner that was buzzing with sparrows, babblers, sunbirds and the fantail,

eBird India Checklist - 30 Jul 2023 - Shaheen Falcon - Viewing Point [Leela Palace IT Building West Facing] - 10 species

eBird India Checklist - 30 Jul 2023 - Shaheen Falcon - Viewing Point [Leela Palace IT Building West Facing] - 10 species

GK's observations

Quite a productive day to observe every behavior of a Shaheen falcon in detail. 

6:20AM: (ROUSING) When I had reached, the Falcon was perched in the right most edge of the Leela building at the top deck. Falcon was quite relaxed and preening, occasionally looking towards the Jains apartment/Somerset building. It once did a rouse, with raised feathers followed by a quick shake to dust of loose feathers and a poop. Falcon wasn't showing any signs of an hunt this day. 

6:25AM: (SOARING, PURSUIT ATTACK & FLAPPING FLIGHT) Falcon took off from the perch, did a short soar between Leela & Jains apartment. This made the Pigeons perched in the Jains apartment fly west. During the second half circle towards Leela, its flight pattern changed from soaring to active flight, with deep wing beats and flew steadily towards Jains apartment, a pursuit attack for sure. Vanished from the view for 5 seconds and returned through the same path with Pigeon in the talons, must have picked in between Jains & Somerset. Flew straight to the base of its favorite pillar perch. 

6:27AM: (NECK SEVERE) Usually the prey get killed when the Falcon landed on its perch, but today as soon as the Falcon landed all of a sudden the Pigeon started flapping heavily which startled the falcon for a few seconds. It took a well over 5 seconds to gain control of the Pigeon and the falcon hoped twice heavily holding the prey by its neck, followed by severing the neck with its bill. 

6:30AM: (PLUCKING & FEEDING) Falcon started to prepare its meal, defeathering the neck feathers of the pigeon and nibbled small bits of flesh with strong pulls. After 5 mins of feeding, Falcon moved the kill towards the corner closer to the pillar and started defeather again, now bigger chunk of long feathers flying off in the wind clearly indicating those are the flight feathers of the prey. Feeding continued for next 10 mins with 20-30 seconds pause to gaze around its environ. 

6:45AM: (GRIFFON POSE, CACK & WAIL VOCALIZATION) Couple of Black Kites appeared over Leela and one of them sighted the Falcon with its prey. As soon as the Kites started soaring over the side of the Falcon, it turned over to the ridge side and moved to more an horizontal posture, started giving loud "cack" calls. One of the Black Kites, flew quite close to the Falcon's ridge as if it tried to snatch the kill. The Kite then flew right over the Falcon's head, dive bombed in an attempt to make the Falcon fly with the kill or abandon the kill. Now the Falcon transformed into "Griffon" posture, with its back feathers roused + half open wings in mantling posture + well spread tail + open bill and started giving loud "agonistic wail" calls. Its call reverberated the entire open area below the Leela building. After a couple of attempts, the Black Kite moved SW towards the estuary. Feeding resumed only 5 minutes after the Kites had vanished. 

6:55AM: (TOMIAL TOOTH) 3 more Black Kites appeared over Leela, 2 flew south and one happened to see the Falcon. This time few "cack" calls from the Falcon were enough to deter the kite away and the feeding continued. Now the Falcon had moved closer to the edge of the pillar facing West which gave good views of the feeding. The pigeon now was held to lie on its back and the Falcon fed from the flanks as the feet of the pigeon was clearly visible. The Falcon nibbled the flesh at first, then held a good chunk with its bill followed by a tilting of its head on both the sides to rip of flesh from the bones. The tomial tooth must be of great help here to tear small pieces of flesh from the pigeon.

7:10AM: (GUT ELIMINATION) Feeding continued with big chucks of flesh been gulped by the Falcon. The intestines/gut are pulled out carefully and been set aside, not eaten. One of the Pigeon's feet along with the tibia portion been detached and swallowed whole after about 1 minute of struggle to push the entire piece in. Few small pieces of flesh & feathers struck to the Falcon's head & bill were carefully removed by a head-rub over its shoulder feathers. 

7:20AM: (CACHING, SCRATCHING & FEET NIBBLE) Feeding came to a pause now. Falcon picked the remaining (around 30%) kill in its beak, carried it closer to the wall of the pillar and dropped it there, cached it for later. Did a short hop to come back to the edge of the pillar base now. Feet nibbling continued for about 2-3 mins accompanied with some scratching of the bill with its front facing talons. Then and there the Falcon will look at its feet, gaze around the habitat for a few seconds and once again relook at its feet. This behavior continued for quite some time until it walked along the ridge of the pillar for a few feet and settled facing the wall. 

7:30AM: (RESTING) Falcon moved to the left side of the Pillar base, started resting and gazed around looking at the flying Crows and Pigeons. Couple of Rose-ringed Parakeets ignored the presence of the Falcon and landed few metres below the pillar investigating the crack in the wall. 

7:35AM: (AGONISTIC CALLING & TERRITORIALITY) Two Black Kites flew in to the Leela building's terrace where the House Crows interrupted them and started mobbing them at all sides. Falcon now turned away from the wall, started giving the "cack" calls looking up. When one of the Kites came closer to the pillar Falcon took off, made a quick climb and started mobbing the Kite. As the Falcon started to circle around the open ground next to Leela, "cack" calls continued with the Falcon trying to soar over the Black Kite. When the second Black Kite too moved towards the Leela west side, Falcon moved towards NW and didn't return. 5 mins post the Falcon had vanished, House Crows appeared next to the pillar base and took possession of the remains of the Pigeon cache.

******

My learnings

Tomial tooth?:  A protrusion that is quite sharp on the upper mandible outer edge - used to kill their prey and I guess also eat.

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

One cuckoo flew out of the nest

Eudynamys scolopaceus

raucous and  rapacious

uninvited eggs were deposited

she emerged  brown and spotted

And the crows found her appetite quite capacious.

Through August and September

Her loud demands I remember

The crows found her rude

But kept her in the brood

Until she fledged in October.

14th August 2022 - the first time I spotted the Koel fledgling in the neighbour's teak tree.

Most days I would see her tail and hear her insistent rattling call

15th August - and she flew from one branch to the other, first flight, but no proud parents to watch or guide.

25th August 2022  - and she flew to our terrace! My attention drawn by the ballyhoo of her calls and the rattling of the clothesline.                                               

From then on, she was a regular up there, getting strength into her wings and begging for food.  Every time there was the shadow of a crow passing, her calls would be more frantic.  The crows ignored for the most part.  Every now and then one crow would desultorily feed her.

And then one day, she was not there.  Flew off!

The mystery to me is that crows and koels don't mate, so they do recognise them as different species, then why do they feed the fledglings?  is there altruism here, that we cannot even begin to fathom?

The videos 

Koel learning to fly and balancing on a wire

Trying her luck with the crows

The crows are unimpressed

 

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!

The Peacock of New Beach Road

Intermittently through the summer of '21, through lockdown, sightings of a young peacock yet to grow his elaborate tail feathers, have been reported up and down our road.  A solitary vagrant (?) that has taken a liking to the neighbourhood?

13th Dec 2021 was my close encounter.

The morning starts with a light drizzle, hmm, terrace walk, to go or not, tussle between my id (relax!) and my overactive superego (no you must go, don't be lazy)...sigh, superego wins, and off I go to our terrace. 

Emerging from the door, I gasped, there was the peacock just beyond the door, and not in the least perturbed or shocked at seeing me!  I stood stock still and watched as he strolled across the terrace to the wall and hopped up.

My first of several pictures of the young chap. Pavo cristatus - Indian peafowl

I moved slowly and kept my distance, took a few video clips and many pictures as it strolled and explored our terrace, at leisure, in the jerky fashion that many of these big birds have.

I admired the brilliant "peacock blue" of his neck.  Got a close look at the leg spurs.

I later read that,  that spur on the leg comes when they are around 2 years and tail feathers begin developing around 4.  So then was this chap between 2-4 years of age?  Why was he on his own like this?  I have always seen them in small groups, when I have seen them in India's sanctuaries, be it Kanha or Kaziranga.  I remember in Manas how there was a congregation of them at the entrance of the park.  Our first "Darshan" everyday before we headed in.  

All through the stroll, the house crows of the neighbourhood made their displeasure known, swooping close to his head, hopping closely with loud caws.  

The crows seemed bemused, not knowing what to make of this large bird, something new in the neighbourhood.  I remember when we spotted the Grey Hornbills, the crows behaved in the same manner. In that case, they successfully chased the pair of hornbills away, but our friend the peacock was not too bothered.

Finally, after a complete stroll around, with crows constantly swooping around, he hopped onto the eastern wall, before he launched off.

I peered over the wall, but lost sight of it.  Saw the beautiful reddening leaves of the jungli badam instead.

And then I spied him, across the road on the neighbour's roof!

It was an amazingly rewarding morning - I saw these 4 blue-tailed bee-eaters, as well and enjoyed their insect-hunting sorties and acrobatics.  Initially I wondered if they were chestnut-headed, but their long streamer tail made me conclude that they were Blue-tailed.  Here for the winter.

I also saw scaly-breasted munias, and this beautiful tree.

And here's the complete video.

21st December

An alert neighbour found the peacock once again - in the trees. And Sekar took these pictures through one of our bedroom windows.

We were able to admire the crest on his head, and the beautifully descriptive eyes.  That blue.... I had some sarees in that colour....silk, gorgeous.

He was feeding on the little berries and the young shoots...peck, peck, look, look, duck from the crow, peck again, neck in, neck up...we observed his motions.

And then he did something interesting...he lifted his undeveloped train of feathers, and quivered them, did a pirouette on the branch, showed us his rear.  Did this a couple of times, to a disinterested couple of crows as audience!  (Besides us of course!)

Getting ready for the breeding season?  Or is he immature still?  I wondered.

Further encounters ensued.

23rd December - on our car - seems like a photoshoot - blue on blue.  
Picture taken by our neighbour.

27th December evening - on the coconut tree, surrounded by crows, who were behaving in an indignant fashion - I mean, the coconut tree, this is the limit, I could almost imagine them muttering among themselves.

This was today - 28th December - on our neighbour's tank.  He was there for a good length of time.  Seemed to survey things around, and kept gobbling something - maybe ants - from around that brick he's standing on.

Wishing him a happy 2022, when he finds some other birds of his own feather - and maybe we will see his trail developing? And hear that characteristic peacock call, which has been completely absent.  Very quiet for an adolescent!

3rd January update

Spied this morning too, on the neighbour's fence, eating berries.  His neck caught the morning sun and I gasped with delight watching the shimmering colours through the binoculars.

A dog barked, and he was all alert.  A crow swooped close to its head and settled on the fence too, and immediately this chap put up his yet-to-fully-grow tail, and did his kathakali moves to the crow. So was that an act of aggression or is he (Heaven forbid) thinking he has to woo the crow?!

The neighbour's dog came bounding to the fence, and with a roll of its eyes, the peacock hopped across to the other side and vanished.

5th January - further update

Peacock evening it was!  My friend was on the neighbour's roof once again, and once again being heckled by the crow.  This time, I was able to catch its offensive actions on camera.

Up went its unformed tail, and it faced the crow - was it as a threat or in courtship?  The crow like the peahens, looked totally disinterested, looking the other way.

The crow hopped around on the wall, seemingly trying to deflect this attention, but the peacock moved in true kathakali style, quivering its feathers and also kind of rattling its beak, giving the crow his full attention.

In what felt like a slow-mo, the peacock swivelled as the crow moved.  

As i watched this scene in total rapt fascination, the crow decided it had had enough, and took off, (I like to think), when faced with the rear end of the peacock.

Immediately the tail came down and the peacock kind of peered over to see where the crow had gone off to.  

14th January

After a long hiatus, he was sighted this morning again.  Was it the overnight rain that brought him into view? on the roof of the bungalow across the road, once again in conversation with the crow.

I want to give him a name.  No inspiration at the moment.

A coucal

Along with the new rivers streaming down in Thiruvanmyur, Sekar and I spied a coucal. He did, first, actually.  Unusually for this bird it was down in full public view on the road. Most often skulking away in the undergrowth or canopy it was my morning walk's moment of delight. 

As we watched, it 'walked' rather jauntily across the road and up onto the gate, before flying into the neighbouring badam tree. 

I had heard it the previous day and so to actually see it was a rather pleasing vindication of what I had heard!

A first time in all these years.

Bee-eaters in the sky today

 It is Vijayadasami today.  A day to start/renew.  And here I am saying hello to my blog again.  

My morning terrace walk today - learned about Squid Games (South Korea's version of Hunger Games) and saw two Green Bee-eaters in the sky.  The Bee-eaters did a couple of sorties and were gone, sadly.  The parakeets stayed, and a young crow fixed me with an intense and curious stare, following me, up and down the terrace before it flew away out of boredom.

The skies are full of Wandering Gliders, moving east to west, from the coastline, across the city, and made me wonder if that's what had attracted the bee-eaters.  

The Wandering Gliders never cease to amaze me, coming with the monsoon winds every year, and moving ceaselessly and tirelessly.  I shot a long video of their gliding and wandering on the beach.  It doesn't make for good viewing or sharing, because they are in and out of the frame in a second, and there are these tiny squiggles moving across the screen.  I marvelled at their two sets of wings, sometimes beating in harmony and other times out of sync for some reason.  Lift?  Velocity?  Hover?

Solving A Dragonfly Flight Mystery

Dragonflies adjust their wing motion while hovering to conserve energy, according to a Cornell University study of the insect's flight mechanics. The revelation contradicts previous speculation that the change in wing motion served to enhance vertical lift.

The Cornell physicists came to their conclusions after analyzing high speed images of dragonflies in action. The insects have two pairs of wings, which sometimes move up and down in harmony. At other times the front set of wings flap out of sync with the back set.

The physicists found that dragonflies maximized their lift, when accelerating or taking off from a perch, by flapping both sets of wings together. When they hover, however, the rear wings flap at the same rate as the front, but with a different phase (imagine two people clapping at the same speed, but with one person's clap delayed relative to the other).

The physicists' analysis of the out-of-sync motion showed that while it didn't help with lift, it minimized the amount of power they had to expend to stay airborne, allowing them to conserve energy while hovering in place.

The research will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of Physical Review Letters. The authors are Z. Jane Wang and David Russell.

Sept 2007

Who would imagine a peacock in the neighbourhood?!

 Aug 31st 2021

Walking past our eastern windows, I look out in my usual post-lunch habit of looking at the teak tree in our neighbour's garden, for the Drone on the hunt, or the bulbul calling, when I saw a large something on the wall of the neighbour's terrace.  I look again, and there stood a peacock, surveying the territory!

While I scrambled to get my binoculars and rouse the family to this unusual sight, it stood on the parapet, gazing down at the dog below, and almost seeming to wonder as to what to do.  It was calm and unhurried and strolled up and down the parapet.

Then it hopped down into the terrace and surveyed the ground for fallen neem fruits, which it seemed to eat.  I noticed that his tail feathers had not grown out as yet and also that there was no other peafowl/hens around.

In all our years at Thiruvanmyur (25 plus), this is the first sighting of a wild peafowl in the neighbourhood for me.  My brother had seen a peahen in May at the height of lockdown.  Through the lockdown, peafowl have been sighted in various TN cities, quite regularly. 

On the 27th, NBR neighbour Rags had messaged that he had seen one in the neighbour's garden - just flew in from nowhere!  We continued to see it in and around our building for the next three days, and then it  flew on.

Doing a walk on the parapet

I learnt that males get their feathers after say 3 years, so this was probably below that age.  I was reminded  of another day, in Manas where I had most recently seen the peacock dance for his mate.

Every forest trip in India for me has a peacock memory, and here was this young chap right at my doorstep!

Through the window

A Common Tailorbird came visiting our little patch of green
More loud tweets to be heard than being seen
I watched without moving as it flitted and called
Now on the branch, now on the wall.

And then today this happy surprise
A single yellow spike
of mustard.
Overnight, did it rise?

 

From Mandaveli to Mahabalipuram: How the ashy woodswallow receded from urban spaces - The Hindu

I now need to discover "Newsletter for Birdwatchers" that is quoted here, along with Santharam of Rishi Valley.  

I have seen these birds in the Kalakshetra campus.

I also looked up allopreening - the preening done by one bird on another.

From Mandaveli to Mahabalipuram: How the ashy woodswallow receded from urban spaces - The Hindu

From Mandaveli to Mahabalipuram: How the ashy woodswallow receded from urban spaces
As this bird’s breeding season reaches its tail end, a throwback to the days when nesting pairs could be seen in urban spaces, sometimes atop lamp posts. Despite being more easily sighted in Chennai and other bustling sections within its distribution range, an erroneous notion about the bird persisted for a long time
Prince Frederick
The ashy woodswallow — also known as the ashy swallow-shrike — inhabits palm trees where it chirpily attends to its domestic duties. Where only a smattering of palm trees exists, the bridge arm of a lamp post becomes home. Truth be told, in urban spaces, this adaptation is largely a thing of the past, existing mostly in birders’ anecdotes and ornithologists’ field notes.
Ornithologist V. Santharam had once written about a pair of ashy woodswallows that nested atop a lamp-post at a Mandaveli junction, in the Newsletter for Birdwatchers.
“That was in the mid-1980s, and Mandaveli was relatively busy. Just near RK Mutt Road and the bus stand junction, there was a lamp-post close to the petrol bunk, where an ashy woodswallow pair was nesting successfully for more than a year,” recalls Santharam, spotlighting how they disdainfully rejected a couple of palm trees standing diagonally opposite the lamp-post.
Were those palm trees taken by other pairs of ashy woodswallows; or any other birds? “No, these two were the only breeding pair in that area.”

1. Within its established range, the ashy woodswallow (artamus fuscus) is usually found in good numbers in areas marked by stands of palm trees.

2. Though the species is comfortable occupying power lines and poles, these are no substitute for palm trees.

3. On sections of ECR — for example, Pallipattu — that are marked by a proliferation of palm trees, these birds can be seen perched on power lines

4. Ashy woodswallows are a gregarious species known for their huddling and allopreening rituals, performed as they park themselves on the power lines

5. Both the male and female are a picture of familial commitment sharing nest-building, incubating and post-natal parenting responsibilities.

6. This bird sallies forth from its perch, snatches the prey while on the wing and even polishes it off before returning to the perch.

7. Birder Sidharth Srinivasan recalls a scene from Nanmangallam where waiting ashy woodswallows made quick work of butterflies that gained elevation after a mud-puddling session

8. Sidharth observes that the ashy woodswallow occasionally lets out a harsh call, one that is markedly different from its regular call. The ashy woodswallow is known to mimic other birds, certainly not as prodigiously and markedly as a drongo would, but will certainly slip in an odd note or two now and then.

The presence of the palm trees, within the hearing range of one wheezy call, probably put these birds at ease about the location. Santharam also recalls how in MRC Nagar, “largely an open area at that time”, ashy woodswallows would string the power lines, huddling and allopreening.
With palm trees on the decline even in semi-urban spaces, it takes a long drive to put oneself within the possibility of savouring such “ashy-avian” delights. An unthinking question could be: Aren’t there more power lines within the city now? The ashy woodswallow may find a comfortable perch in a power line, but does not usually see it as a substitute for a palm tree. These birds invariably “test” the strength of power lines found in a place that proliferates in palm trees. The further one drives down East Coast Road, the greater the chances of sighting gaggles of ashy woodswallows on power lines. Just ahead of Mahabalipuram, there are villages where one can make this association between palm trees and ashy woodswallow. As ashy woodswallows have now receded far from urban spaces, and farther still from our collective consciousness, one can take kindly to gaps in the overall understanding of their behaviour.
However, in decades past, when the species was hardly a will o’ the wisp, and put up live shows in residential localities, an erroneous assumption about its behaviour persisted, In retrospect, it looks indefensible.
It was largely believed that ashy woodswallow stuck to their towers and never descended to terra firma. Beyond casual conversations, the assumption was found validated even in some field guides.
Seeking to tackle this erroneous notion, Santharam wrote about in the edition of Newsletter for Birdwatchers that saw the light in January 1981. “I have seen this species on the ground on many occasions. The first such occasion was on 23.3.79 when a pair of these birds were pulling out some tufts of grass probably to line the nest at the open meadow of Adyar Estuary. One bird having collected a beakful of material headed towards some palm trees. The other bird remained on the ground for sometime and then flew in another direction,” Santharam penned his observations.
“On another occasion, I was observing a finchlark nest that had two chicks in June 80. An ashy swallow-shrike alighted on the ground a few yards away. On seeing the bird near their nest, the agitated parents, especially the female vigorously attacked the intruder and forced it to move away.”
Santharam ends his note by explaining what necessitated it.
“While the Handbook (Vol. 5) says that this species has “not been recorded actually on the ground, but may do so.....”, Whistler in the ‘Popular Handbook of Indian Birds’ asserts that this species never visits the ground. It was interesting to note that the nesting materials include fine grass, roots, fibres and feathers.”
Forty years on, Santharam has this to say: “Apart from the rare occasions when it comes down to take out the grass, this bird has no need to come down. It catches insects in flight, and sits on wires and poles. That is the reason why it (the bird’s rare descent to terra firma) was probably not reported. Or people thought it was not significant. Because both these people had mentioned specifically that it is not seen on the ground, when I saw it happen, I wanted to report it.” From past literature about this species, it is staggering to note that the species’ relationship with terra firma has a matter of deep speculation.
In 1951, the celebrated naturalist Charles McFarlane Inglis — who associated with the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Entomological Society in the forms in which they existed then — wrote a note about the ashy woodswallow to The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, and it got published.
At that time, Inglis was staying at Kenilworth in Coonoor, and he was calling attention to a discovery about the species he had made some years ago.
“Although I have no evidence of this swallow-shrike actually settling on the ground, I have proof of the nearest thing to it,” writes Inglis and goes on to present photographic evidence of an ashy swallow-shrike helping itself to a bird bath, which it shared it with a grey-headed myna. Inglish was “staying with my friend, the late H.V.O’ Donel, on the Huldibari Tea Estate in the Duars” when both made the discovery.
As Donel had a camera at hand, the rare event of an ashy woodswallow setting claws on object just inches above terra firma could be recorded for posterity.
(Uncommon Residents is about the resident birds of Chennai and surrounding areas that are rarely seen)