Social Distancing....!

Asian Koel couple

Our Visit to Pulicat Lake!

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We had visited Pulicat lake last December when we went to watch the Rocket launch at Sri Harikota.  It is not as beautiful as Vedanthaangal though, still, OK. And we went there before the actual birding season started.  In Feb. March, we could have seen the babies...

Now, have a look at the limited no. of birds we saw on that day:

Painted storks

Reflection of the clouds!

The Crows' Story!

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 I think I am writing about crows for the third time...first was about them in my old house (link).  Now, we see many of them in the new house/flat too!

Morning breakfast, curd rice, for the crows! My husband had put a granite slab here just for this purpose!

This one steals clothes clips often!

Towel stealer! I lost two towels...I don't hang the towel here now...changed the place!

He got it! Tries to pull out threads from the towel, may be for cushioning his nest!

The towel was hanging there for a couple of days!

Holding bits of chapatis in his beak!

'Sitting' crow!

You can see the water bowl outside the window.  I was pouring fresh water thrice a day.  They were drinking and then some of them used to ring bread pieces and other eatables, dip them in the water and then eat! The water started stinking later.  Then one day, they pushed down the bowl and it got broke....I stopped keeping water. The stench was unbearable! But always leave some water in a lid on the terrace when I go up to water my plants!

'The girl who gets gifts from birds!' The young girl in this article gets small small gifts in return for the food she gave the crows.

I think my crows also gift me in their own way with neem seeds (they keep them in a row of 6-7), some long leaves and small stones on my kitchen window sill! My son says 'they are gifts for you'!

They sit very close to my husband on the clothes line in the balcony and just look at us without making any sound in the mornings when we have our coffee! They are used to us and we are used to them now!

P.S.: I thought this photo should be included here! This is in the other balcony.  The crows have gifted me 'pedigree' pellets! Added this now! (8th Nov.)

Happy Feeling!

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I notice some positive changes in many places now! New trees/saplings are planted in many places (though many avenue trees also are going down).  And I was told that the people in the houses near the new trees are taking care of them nowadays, which was not there earlier.  If corporation plants the saplings, it was expected of them to water them everyday by our people!  Now, it is changing.  Feel happy!

I see waste bins in many places on some roads (it should spread to more roadsides).  Water for animals is kept by people and by the Blue Cross.

We saw this during our morning walk.  Dogs, cats and birds were drinking water from this bowl!

Our street corner was always stinking with overflowing garbage bins. The corporation lorry personnel who were coming to clear the garbage bin used to just drop it haphazardly on the road, nearly in the middle of the road after clearing them.   People too used to throw garbage around them.  Now, the corporation has made platforms with borders and a man comes to pick up the overflowing garbage and dump it inside the bins and spray DDT powder around it. The lorry comes, clears the bins and places them inside the specified area! It looks neat now.  This has been happening for the past 3-4 months.  It is still clean! I am not covering my nose while crossing the area! Feel very happy!

Clean garbage bins and clean surrounding area! Bin is kept inside the specified area nowadays!

Many birds have started looking for nesting places and some have babies already! Some new birds are coming to our area nowadays. Feel so happy, looking at them chirping all the time!

Our home bird, Crow! Looking for a nesting place?! He seems to be roaming here all the time!

Shikra, a new bird in the neighbourhood.

 Oriental Magpie Robin...these birds are nesting inside a pipe on the terrace! I love their sounds!

 

Myna also is building its nest on the roof of our building!

Rufous treepie...these birds are roaming here! My husband and son also have started roaming with the camera now! The bug has caught them too!

 Music used to make me happy in the mornings, now, these birds have also joined in! This is the main reason I wanted to write this post...the sparrows have come back.  Do you remember my earlier post on them? Here it is! The crows shooed them off later.  That was in March.  After a few days, I saw only the male sparrow.  Never saw his family.  So, I stopped feeding curd rice to the crows which I had been doing for years now.  Suddenly I saw the male and female sparrows back again.  Felt so happy! So, this is a happy post!

Female sparrow in our balcony...Son clicked this beautiful picture!

Male sparrow! Don't know if he is the same sparrow which came here earlier but feel happy to see him with his wife! Waiting for their babies now!

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My Chirping Babies!

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This family of sparrows visited my balcony and I had the privilege to record their activity! This is my first proper video recording! I was sitting on the dining table chair and recording it! I had noticed a sparrow couple when we shifted to this flat.  They were always in the front side of the complex.  I used to place rice and bajra in my balcony to lure them.  But they never came.  I was telling my husband that their family is not growing, I still see only one couple of sparrows! Last week, the whole family visited me to show that their family is growing!
I feel so happy!

If you can't see the video in the embedded window, here is the  'you tube' link.

A home for them is ready, in our balcony.  Hope they feel at home here.

I had written about my earlier bird babies here!

Foto Friday!

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I saw two pairs of these birds yesterday morning.  They were happily flying from one tree to another.  All of them were shouting in different tones but it was so pleasant to the ears! After some 10 mts. some crows came and shooed them off.  These crows never let any birds come into their area.  I felt very sad for these birds, Rufous Treepie.  But I got a nice photo! Click on the photo to get a clearer picture pl.

I had clicked them sometime back when they were sitting on a different tree.  Here it is.

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Wordless Wednesday!

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Foto Friday!

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P.S.: Click on the picture to get a better view!

My Latest Friends, Dummi And Others!

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This is a 'sort of' happy post! Remember, how I was brooding for shifting from our old house to a new flat, here?!  It was during last May '13.  Now, my mood has changed completely, thanks to the  clean environment here at the new place!  Yes, I enjoyed living among fragrant flowers surrounding the house, but the house was situated in the outskirts and so we had open drainage, which meant, dirty stench.   Now, the underground drainage is coming there shortly!  Apart from the flowers, I enjoyed the cats, their families, birds, their families, butterflies, etc.  We were watching many sun bird families too, but I couldn't capture them in my camera.  These pleasant memories of that house will always be there. 

Now, we are living in a flat.  The compound has many croutons and flowers without fragrance.  But they look green! The next compound has got many trees.  Though we don't see different kinds of birds often, we see parrots and sun birds occasionally.  We hear the lovely sound of Bul bul birds too! But we see crows, crows and more crows everywhere, nearby! So, I have started enjoying them, watching them which is not very new for me, though!  Have a look at my old post here!

I place curd rice in my kitchen window sill and many crows of all sizes and shapes, come here to eat it.  I see many andangaakka (Jungle crows) which have got shiny, beautiful coat! They take chapatis from my hands when I give them through my kitchen window!

I see other entertainers too, like these:

Baby Monkey came into our compound today! It was fun watching him!

Click on the photo and you can notice the make-up on his face, clearly!

The red/orange sindhoor-like teekha, eyes are full of kaajal and one black drushti pottu (what do we all it in English?! It is placed so that kisi ki nazar na lag jaye!) too on the cheek.  Some cloth is in his waist and one belt-like band too! Neck has got colourful beads! My maid said that he must have come here from the next door Murugan temple! One man sits there with monkeys, it seems.  He was making different types of sounds, sitting on the compound! We, flat people, were all standing in our balconies, throwing bananas, carrots etc. to him.   He ate just one banana! I think he was here for a couple of hours.  We were worried about the crows which were sitting on top of the trees waiting to peck him! I think he went home without any harm! The man should have come and taken him home.

This peacock is a regular visitor in our compound.  We give him fried grams! A small girl from one of  our flats, stands very close to him and gives him fried gram! He is also from the next door temple! This bird is Muruga(Subrahmanya)'s vaahana/transport!

This area is full of crows, I said...proof is here! These birds used to fly across the flat from our kitchen window to the other side via our balcony.  They started flying like that even after we occupied this house.  So, we tied the wire,  like it is shown below, to block them.  We lift from one side and place curd rice for them now!

 

This one is a regular visitor for our curd rice...he is a pest...keeps on making different sounds from his throat without opening his beak!  Sometimes he makes full-throated sound which blocks my music sound, which I hate! I love to hear Kishore Kumar's music than Kaakka music!

This one acts like a baby always! He was born here in a nest in the next tree.  He was always sitting in between his parents, for many months.  One of them always fed him.  He had a 2 inch gash at the back of his neck for a long time.  He was just sticking to his parents.  Now, his gash is gone and sits mostly here! He takes a piece of chapathi from our window, goes there, places on the branch and within minutes, a squirrel will come running to the chapathi and starts eating! He will watch from another branch...this happened even today morning!

This is Dummi!

Dummi is always there in the morning when I enter my kitchen, waiting silently.  Sometimes I give him one biscuit.  He never pesters me like the one about whom I told you earlier!  He just waits there till 8.30 or 9 am.  Sometimes he sits on one leg like he is in the picture!  Sometimes he keeps his beak inside his feathers and sleeps (I think so!).  Looks very innocent!  We call him 'dummi' because he is the fattest among the crows who visit us!  He silently eats and leaves.  He doesn't come back.  We see him only the next morning!

I notice one crow which is a bit thin, starts doing kabaddi steps around the curd rice, hopping to the left and right, without letting the other crows near the curd rice! He is a good sportsman, very very light on his feet!

The small box is waiting for the sparrows to nest in!

I have seen a couple of sparrows in the front side of this complex near the gate.  We have got pigeons too which I don't like...the only bird I don't like.  They spoil the place with their excreta ...huh, I am using a polite word!  I asked my husband to keep a box here, in the balcony for the sparrows or any other small bird to nest inside.  It is more than three months now and I haven't seen anyone even peeping into the box! Husband is planning to put a 'tolet for sparrows only' board here soon!

Now, I will tell you the Best Entertainer for our family...the Rising Sun!  We see him rising among the clouds and trees, everyday, with our coffee cups in our hands, sitting in our balcony! I have got some 183 snaps of the sunrise scenes! One is here:

I told you in the beginning, this is a happy post!

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Wordless Wednesday

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 TO ALL MY FRIENDS HERE!

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I would like to start the New Year with a happy post and with my favourite subject, BIRDS! Have a look at the beautiful birds first, then read about them!

Vedanthangal bird sanctuary! The place where we watched them is  quite far away which is good for them! No disturbance from us, enemies! Click on the picture to have a better view! The white dots are birds!

Entrance to the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary

Pond Heron! This bird mostly stays near the bank of the lake where they can pick insects and worms from the algae.  The stretch their necks nearly a foot long to pick the worms from the water! Looks like snake when they stretch!  We didn't see anyother birds coming near the banks!

Lone Pelican...most of the birds we saw/noticed were pelicans.  These are large birds which mostly come from Australia.  We saw some flying with twigs to form their nests!

Black-headed Ibis! I will forget the name after an hour, but they look so beautiful!

Pelicans...watching the new member landing? Look at their beaks! Their faces look expressive!

Late comer?!

These birds look beautiful...Don't know the name of the birds!

One section of the birds

 

All these birds are beautiful, though we don't know the names!

Pelicans looked prominent, maybe because of their size!

Open Bill Stork...these are called 'naththai kuththi naarai' in Tamil, means 'snail pricking stork'!  
All these different types of birds stay in separate clusters but they don't seem to disturb others! We can learn a thing or two from them!

We had been planning to visit Vedanthangal Bird sanctuary (near Chennai) for the past many years now.  At last we did it, 10 days back, since we read in the paper that the birds had started coming.

This place is 60 kms. from our house.  I wanted to be there at 6 am itself, since I thought that it would be nice to watch the birds flying in the morning hours.  But somebody at the sanctuary said that the gate would be open at 8 am! But it opens at 6, we came to know after going there!   We were told that we can see birds coming from Australia, Siberia, Sri Lanka and many other places for nesting in the Vedanthangal lake in the months of November to March.  You can see in the first and second picture, how the birds are sitting in groups on tree tops!  A person who works there said that since this years the rains were less and the lake was not filled up properly, only around 30,000 birds have come.  Last year, the water level was high and so around 60,000 birds had come.  They come here, build their nests, hatch eggs and after the birds come out, even teaching to fly takes place here itself.  It will be around March first week and we are planning to go there again to see the baby birds!

Wikipedia says:

Vedanthangal is the oldest water bird sanctuary in the country. Vedanthangal in Tamil language means 'hamlet of the hunter'. This area was a favourite hunting spot for the local landlords in the early 1700s. The region attracted a variety of birds because it was dotted with small lakes that acted as feeding grounds for the birds. Realising its ornithological importance, the British government undertook steps to develop Vedanthangal into a bird sanctuary as early as 1798. This was established in 1858 by the order of the Collector of Chingleput.

Several accounts of the sanctuary were published in the mid-19th Century.Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is one of the oldest bird sanctuaries in India, and has been fiercely protected by the local population for well over 250 years. In 1936, the park was notified as a sanctuaryand in 1962, the Madras Forest Act legally accorded the status of a reserve forest to Vedanthangal. Ten years later, the place was declared as a wildlife sanctuary.

The area had a compact grove of more than 500 barringtonia trees earlier. An additional 100 trees were planted in 1973 and over 1,000 trees were planted in 1996.

The local people are very protective of the birds.  First, the bird droppings in the water which was also used for irrigation of the nearby fields act as a good fertilizer.  Not only that, the locals think that the birds come there to build their homes depending on their goodwill.  They never shoot any bird here.  They treat them like family.  Some local youngman caught a large fish here, a couple of weeks back.  The local Panchayat people warned him and fined him Rs.10,000/-.  Then after some bargaining, he paid some Rs.3,000/-, it seems! This is a huge amount of money for a lone fish!

The lake is surrounded by a walking tiled path and 3-4 towers for bird-watching.  This was built by the Britishers in the 1800s.   I saw clean toilets and many dustbins with notifications not to throw anything outside the bin or anywhere else in the sanctuary.  Even then I saw a couple of plastic bottles floating in the lake.  But surprisingly, the whole area was clean.  Drinking water also was available and benches were there to relax and watch the atmosphere relaxingly!  I noticed many foreigners with cameras waiting patiently to click a good photograph...children also were fascinated by the birds. 

Watch tower!

Drinking water!

We saw these cows at the back of the seats we sat, at the Vedanthangal park.  Farming and cattle breeding is the main source of income for the local villagers here.  They supply milk to the city. The cows look so clean.  The calves also were not too thin, which is rare here, in the city!

We reached there around 8.30 am.  Had our idlies in our car and then went inside.  We saw people selling fruits and some small shops were there.  So, it is better to carry food with you.  The tickets were just Rs.2 for children and Rs.5 for adults! I couldn't believe! Normal camera charge Rs.25 and Video camera Rs.150. They should charge more and use the money for maintenance, I feel.  It is worth spending more money here!

Our breakfast, Idlies with chutney powder! And then Amul masti (butter milk)!

Let us all, including these birds and other creatures on our earth,  have a happy life in the coming years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LET THE COMING YEAR BE PEACEFUL AND 
BRING HAPPINESS TO ONE AND ALL!

Another village which has got bird-loving people is  here