A morning on the beach. Since it was a low tide morning.
Started with the thickets and scrub near 4th Seaward Road. A hoopoe dug furiously in the soft sand, picking up breakfast. Flew as I approached, only to be chased by a crow for some reason.
A couple of Plain Prinias flitted through the Calatropis, and I watched them move up and down the branch, before zooming off to the next one. I admired their beautiful white brows, pink legs and longish tail. Among them was a Tailorbird, a little stockier, and calling loudly. Soon the Prinias went one way and the Tailorbird another way.
A Cattle Egret moved in slow motion among the grasses.
I moved on the the water front, and was horrified by what I saw.
The sea had just deposited piles of waste - I had never seen anything like this.
Just piles of waste - cloth, plastic, slippers, bottles, medicine strips....a veritable tsunami of garbage.
And then suddenly - a broom, a pile of waste...hmm?
Walk a few more steps, more brooms and more signs of a clean-up, and I spied the Urbaser crew!
Hats off to the team who were methodically raking and collecting the waste, and removing them in large bags. We exchanged cheery hellos, and I thanked them for their efforts.
And this was what the beach sands looked like after they were done!
What a joy and delight!
Today's beach combing
A Torpedo Ray(!!), Tower shells, Razor clam shells...
Wedge clams a plenty
Sunset siliqua and Towers
White Hammer Oyster and other unknowns
And this strange piece of bone...Mammalian?
Back on to the road, down to Sparrow Point where I was rewarded with a flock of 20 House Sparrows, chirping and arguing. A sudden commotion from one of the homes along the wall, a man brandishing a stick and chasing a cat, that was super frisky and obviously had something in its mouth - a live squirrel! The cat won its catch, as it escaped the man's stick.
Another Urbaser crew cleaning the beach roads.
A line of two wheelers in queue, performing figures of eight as the RTO Inspector looked on.
Back home, hungry, and I did enjoy those dosais and coffee!
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.
After the first serious bout of rain, this plot at the corner of Baywatch boulevard and KK road was semi-flooded and they were pumping the water all the way to the sea.
And this was the other road along which a channel was created. Reminding me of my grandmother's home, and the water canals that would course through the farm areas.
Definite paper boat kind of feelings.
28th November - the sun comes out, the sea was calmer and the cattle were happy with some dry spot!
November 29th.
New Beach Road is lined with RWH pits connected by a sloping pipe through which excess water goes to the sea, via this outlet.
This plot at the corner of Baywatch boulevard and KK road is completely inundated - it is a sheet of water along with the road next to it.
My hypothesis is that this now is the level of the water table. The owners of the plot on the other hand, think they can pump away this water. Which is what they are doing. Water is getting pumped to the sea in huge pipes. Can't the empty plots at least be allowed to keep their water, and support the monsoon ecosystem of frog and tadpole? Will mosquitoes breed then?
I saw tadpoles in a couple of waterfilled plots and have been hearing the sound of frogs, maybe for the first time ever, on NBR?
Water in SloMO
From the beach
Clean Up!
It was a timely and quick way to remove the plastic thrown back by the sea from the sands for sure. The only problem with this is that it also affects the intertidal marine life doesn't it? All those little crabs and clams - all collateral damage?
Several such mounds from the earthmover lined the road. I hope that this kind of cleaning is a one-off event as otherwise the sands will get "dead".
As I watched the floodwaters join the sea, I ruminated on how, we are spending huge monies on desalinating the ocean's waters on the one hand for our consumption, and then the fresh water that comes to us free, we are once again spending money and pumping back into the sea.
In the evenings, pelicans come to the estuary, and its entertaining to watch them fish. Today they fished along with the fishermen, and the sun lit them up so nicely. This is an iphone picture, through the binoculars.
On the western side, the sun shone on the blooming Copper Pod, yellow on yellow. The picture couldn't capture the "on-fire" effect.
I liked the way the evening sun lit up the panorama.
And another day ends.
My naturalist friends are busy looking at the night skies. The Meteor showers show.
And so the lockdown will continue we are told. Stay home and stay safe. It happens to be a Sunday today. As a wit on WhatsApp observed, why bother with days, its either this day or that day or like every other day! Sundays are different - I get a fresh crossword to do and see the answer for that annoying one about the Cockney bruiser from last week.
More morning walks.
Past the crow bath I go. They all line up, one row at the bath and the next row waiting for their turn. There's a fizz and cheer in them, as they have a good splash before they fly off to the Tabebuia nearby to dry themselves.
In good Indian fashion, these crows bathe before breakfast - sustenance provided by a Good Samaritan in the building. Every morning as I walk round and round, I ponder the question to feed or not to feed. And arrive at no answer. I used to be anti-feeding....in the current situation, I don't know anymore.
A crow hops on the path in front of me, reluctant to waste energy in flight until there seems no other go. Oh these pesky humans!
Anyways now that we pesky humans are all at home, everyone else is out celebrating it seems!
Chennai Skies so blue
Flamingoes in Mumbai, Starlings murmuring somewhere else, starry nights and even the Pallikaranai marsh is teeming!
For Bhanumathi, the lockdown has been a chance to think about her lifestyle choices: a reminder to live a sustainable life. “We need to examine how much resources we are using,” she says. Whether it is using ingredients judiciously in the kitchen, buying fewer gadgets and cars, or “on a more personal level, even whether we need to have two or more children. I am glad many are making the conscious decision to adopt instead. Because we have to think about the kind of planet we are leaving for them, 30 years down the line.”
Given that things are no longer easily available to us at our doorstep, she says this has made her pay attention to the whole process of manufacturing that goes behind a finished product and all the people involved in it.
The lockdown is a huge shift from her regular life, given she would go on Nature expeditions almost twice every month. “This period has taught me tolerance and patience in thinking before making decisions.” The odd dragonfly still wanders inside her window. “One day, I heard the calls of a spotted owlet at around midnight. I have lived in Chennai since 1982 and that has never happened before.”
Were those painted storks I spied, flying northwards?
It's April and the Tabebuia blooms, as it should,
...as does the Spathodea.
The skies are blue....
...and the sunsets are brilliant.
I need to remember that one species out of 8.7 million on earth is having a bad time, and I am one out of 6 billion of that said species. OK that is inaccurate. About 3,000 animals and another 3,000 plants are also having a bad time, because of the one species.
