Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

An interesting article about the Jacobin cuckoo, with pictures from Sagarika's sightings this April 2019, around Perumbakkam, part of the larger Pallikaranai marsh area.

Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

The Jacobin Cuckoo heralds the monsoon in north India

Abhishek Gulshan

The Jacobin Cuckoo is one lucky bird indeed. At least according to Indian myth. Also known as the Pied Cuckoo or Chatak, this bird heralds the onset of the monsoon in India.

Being an agricultural economy the rainy season is considered one of the most auspicious seasons in the country. And so, the Pied Cuckoo in North and Central India is a welcome sight.

It is a bird with black and white plumage (pied) with a fancy crest on the head. Its scientific name is Clamator jacobinus. The genus ‘Clamator’ literally translates to being a shouter, a bird which is quite vocal, so you’ll hear yourself surrounded by the calls close to the monsoon. The word ‘jacobinus’ relates to pied birds.

Pictures are from Sagarika's sighting in Chennai

There are two populations of the Pied Cuckoo in India. One is a resident in the southern part of the country. The other, according to tracking by birders, makes its way to North and Central India from Africa by crossing the Arabian Sea, along with the monsoon winds. When the monsoon arrives in all its majesty, its sighting also spreads widely.

So this is a resident?  I didn't know that.

The bird is primarily arboreal, which means that it mostly lives on trees but often forages for food in low bushes, and sometimes even on the ground. Considering its arboreal nature, it prefers forests, well-wooded areas and also bushes in semi-arid regions. These birds are primarily insectivores and feed on grasshoppers, beetles and are also often seen feeding on fruits and berries from trees.


The species, like all cuckoos, is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in nests that belong to other birds, preferring similar-sized birds like babblers and bulbuls, as their ‘hosts’. The hosts are often distracted by male cuckoos, and the females quickly lay their similar-sized and coloured eggs into the hosts’ nests. The hosts then take care of the eggs and the chicks that hatch from them, as their own. The parasitic chicks are fed by the hosts and then leave the host parents once they are ready to be on their own.

A few years ago, birdwatchers set out to test the truth behind whether the bird does signal the coming of the monsoon. We began a monitoring process, collecting data around bird sightings, and other habits. This is being documented online on ebird.org, an Ivy-League initiative for birdwatchers all around the world.

A large number of birdwatchers reported the sighting of the Pied Cuckoo on the online documentation forum, and when these dates of sightings were compared to the monsoon's arrival, as available with the Indian Meteorological Department, the results were fairly clear. Pied Cuckoos did indeed arrive before the monsoon in most parts of central and northern India. In a few areas, it was also observed that wherever the monsoon was to arrive earlier than usual, the Pied Cuckoo also showed up a few days earlier. So the Chatak is not an old wives’ tale anymore.

To join a trail in Mangar, Haryana this Sunday and spot the Jacobin Cuckoo, email ninox.edu@ gmail.com

The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl about Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. He formerly led a programme at WWF India as a naturalist, and is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds in the region

Who was Marcus Garvey?

July 11th 2019

That is the question that crossed my mind, as I crossed the park this morning.  Turns out he was a Jamaican-born activist of Black Rights, Black Brotherhood and established many a business in order to improve the lot of African Americans.  Seems to have supported the KKK, (why???), and lived in Harlem when he moved to the US. A colourful and controversial character.

This 20 acre park is located between 120th and 124th street, and has oak trees and sparrows and starlings in plenty.

This art installation is made from used tires.  The mound seen at the rear is part of a schist/large rock around which the park is built.  Supposedly, they could not remove it, to extend 5th Avenue, and proposed a tunnel through it - but it did not get built.

Need to find out what this spectacular tree is.

Are those flowers I spied, on the Oak tree?

Birds of a feather bathing together!

The squirrel seems to have figured how to work the water fountain.

I tried unsuccessfully to reach the Harlem river, but came up against the Harlem River  Drive and the bridge to Randall island, which seemed "uncrossable" on foot at 125th.  I would need to trudge up to 128th.

With a midday sun overhead, and hot concrete underfoot, the extra walk did not seem appealing at all, and I returned, catching a row of maples instead.

Maple leaves against the blue sky 

And another outdoor art piece catches my eye

Brown-belted bumblebees

Harlem, New York

I am on the 19th floor in Harlem, and the midday air is usually filled with the wailing of ambulance sirens in the streets below, and a more persistent and loud buzz closer by.  Little black and brown blobs would whizz by my startled nose, and land on the balcony railings and take off once again before I could get a good glimpse of them.

Today morning, me and my iPhone were quick on the draw, and I caught this beauty just as it was about to take off.

                                                       Brown-belted Bumble Bee

 (Bombus griseocollis)

I did not think they would be seen so high up in the atmosphere.  These brown-belted bumblebees are important flower and fruit pollinators for the region, and they are probably the reason that those hibiscuses are flowering merrily and happily!

Sharp-Eatman nature photography has an ID guide for the wild bees of New York

Identification Information:  These bees can be best identified by their trim "crew cut" fur and by the belt of brown hair that usually appears near the front end (on the second segment) of their black abdomens, just behind a narrow yellow band.  Brown-belted bumble bees have  black legs and dark transparent wings.  Their heads are black, sometimes with yellow markings, and they have large black eyes.  The bees' yellow thoraxes (mid-sections) may or may not have a black spot at the center.  Queen bees may lack the brown belt.  Queens are substantially larger than other members of this species but have the same distinctive large eyes and  trim fur.

Unlike other bumble bees, brown-belted bumble bees have short tongues.  They thus are unable to access nectar and pollen from deep-throated flowers.  They prefer blossoms that have flat landing platforms containing multiple florets, such as milkweed, black-eyed Susans and thistles.   Instead of expending energy by flying from one flower to the next, brown-belted bumble bees can walk from floret to floret, efficiently gathering a small amount of nectar from each. The brown-belted bumble bees shown here were gathering nectar in this fashion from coneflowers, common milkweed and swamp milkweed.  These bumble bees also feed on goldenrod, toadflax and thistles along park trails and in Stone Barns' gardens.  They first appear in our area in mid-March and remain throughout the summer.

The Hibiscus suits their short tongues!

Walking to the Hudson

July 3rd 2019

Set off down 120th towards the Hudson.  530 in the evening, and it was still warm.  New Yorkers were out in their shorts and summer wear, and the kids seemed to be out of school and in the playgrounds.

The tall buildings kept me in the shade, as I crossed Malcolm Boulevard, Frederick Douglas and Manhattan Ave, to arrive at the steps of Morningside Park.  Dog walkers and dogs of all shapes and sizes.  

Climbed the hill via the steps through the park, and it was Columbia University territory.  Old buildings with impressive facades.

Teachers College

Renovations and the Riverside Church spire behind

The church is magnificent - the tallest church in the US!  Started in 1927 and completed in 1930.

Commissioned by Rockefeller.  April 4th 1967, Martin Luther King made a speech against Vietnam War here.

Chanced upon the Grant memorial, the final resting place of the 18th President of the US, Ulysses Grant and his wife Julia Grant.

General in the Union Army during the Civil War, he was a young president, and it was his wish to be buried in NY and not DC.

Magnificent oaks all around

And Gingko trees as well

Characteristic leaves of the gingko

The upper end of the Riverside drive

More steps, downwards to the river

And I was below the bridge....

George Washington Bridge across the Hudson, in to NJ.  that evening, the Lincoln Tunnel was closed due to an accident, and it was the 4th Of July the next day.... the roads were filled with standstill cars, and I was glad to bet walking.

The USS Baylander - now a museum ship - served in the Vietnam War.

The Birding Walk caught my eye...

The beautiful and clean Hudson River.  The water was clear!

 The sun was still strong when I reached the Hudson, and I was impressed with the beautiful planned cycling track and walking path along the banks of the river.  Both were well used even at that time of the day.  Bikers were speeding down the path.  (Later I came to know that there are accidents due to speeding cyclists - and in fact someone we knew fell and broke his jaw as a result of this.). So beware of the cyclists as well!

All across Harlem are these sidewalk protections - to keep pedestrians safe when the building is being worked upon.  What a great idea.  And here I am in India, where there are more pedestrians but yet with fewer pavements and every time there is a construction, the pavement gets taken over, and the pedestrian has to fend for him/herself, weaving in between the traffic.  Makes me wonder which country is more favourable for the common man. 

820 in the evening, and the sun was slowly sinking, and the glass windows of the building seemed to be on fire.

Back home, and the sun was setting behind the Riverside Church spire.  A satisfying walk, rounded up with some great dinner.

Discovering Harlem Meer

My first glimpse - Meer is Dutch for "lake"

Walking down 5th Avenue at Harlem, NY
Birdsong all around.  A cheerful start to my Sunday.

Am American Robin stopped and stared.  I was the visitor, distracting it from breakfast, which was in plenty on the meadow floor.

It seemed to want to give me a tour of the lake.

Nutter's battery?!  Hmmm.  I saw a pile of stone, didn't pay much attention.  Turns out it was part of some fortifications from a few centuries ago.

The park was bathed in sunshine, and the air was filled with darting and chirping house sparrows.  All those theories floating around in Chennai about cellphone towers are unfounded for sure.   

A Canada Goose sunned itself along with some Mallard

The city keeps a respectful distance.  The Central Park boundaries are sacrosanct.  No encroachments, non-negotiable.

Any number of spots would make for a good painting.

A Gray Catbird seemed to want to give me the once over.  Fixing me with its gaze.

I will be back I'm sure

B for Bougainvillea

Oh yes, learn that spelling!

All over my city, as the sun blazes, Bougainvillea are running riot, scrambling up trees, and filling the skies with colour - orange, pink and white.  Their joy is tumbling over the city's walls, cascading down from terraces, making the dreariest of buildings look bright and pretty.

My favourite used to be the ones lining the walls of the Olcott school on Besant Avenue, and they were a traffic-stopping riot, quite literally.  Motorists would stop to take pictures and selfies.

Neighbouring Pondy is even better.  All through the French Quarter, the yellow walls, blue doors and pink bougainvillea make for great compositions.

An Ikebana composition in nature - brown lines and masses of pink

Through a large portion of the year, we don't give them a second look - thorny vines, with regular small heart-shaped leaves, with a few flowers here and there.  Come summer however and they thrive like no other.

They actually need good sunshine and very little water!  No wonder they do well in our summers, even though they have come from south America.

.

And all those pretty colours are actually modified leaves - bracts.  Those little whites are the flowers, and trios of them are usually surrounded by these papery, colourful bracts.

In the right foreground are the buds before they open into those pretty flowers.

Let me see what unusual colours I spot this summer.