THE BIRDS

At times, birds would wake us up from our beds with their musical calls. The “Koo… Kooh...” of the Koel and the “Cu...Cu...Cu...” of the Cuckoo is popular for their melodious notes in their calls. The Koel, Cuckoo, Robin and other smaller birds perched on the Alphonso mango tree by the side of my bed room window. They loved to hear me reciprocate to their calls. They then repeated it a few times before leaving the tree. I loved to respond to the aforesaid calls and also the “Trrrrrrrr followed by Kutrooo… Kutrooo…” of the Barbet; the “kwa kwa or Roein….” of the Black Drongo and the “Soo..Soo..Sci…” of the Robin. I have noticed that these small singing birds are passerines having four toes – three toes facing forward and one toe facing backward and these toes help them to perch on the branches of trees tightly and comfortably. The male birds sing melodiously to attract their females.

Our compound was like an open aviary. We took particular care not to disturb them. The birds that visited our compound were varied. Some of the birds that came to our compound were: - the  Koel (Kuyil), Cuckoo (Cuku), Coucal (Uppan or Chemboth), Barbet (Green Myna), Black Headed Oriole (Yellow Myna), Common Myna (Madatha), Parrot or Parakeet (Thathamma), Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Wood Pecker (Maram kothi), Kingfisher (Neelaponman), Magpie Robin (Mannathikili), Jungle Babbler, (Karukilanchi), Rufous Treepie (Olanaran), Red Whiskered Bulbul, Common Iora, Purple Sunbird (Then Kuruvi), Purple Rumped Sunbird, House Sparrow,  Swallow, Crow (Kakka), Black Drongo (Kakka Thampuratti) and  Pigeon (Pravu). Recently, we had an unusual visitor, a Peahen. She was wandering around looking lost. She must have been looking for the Peacock, her pair or may be even her flock!

It is interesting to watch their varied sizes and shapes of their beaks, bills, toes and even the colour of their feather and plumage. The beak or bill of a bird depends on his food habits. Their varied beaks and bills can be used as different tools like a nutcracker as in the  Parrot; a chisel to peck a hole as with the  Woodpecker, Barbet (Green Myna) and Indian Grey Hornbill (Vezhambal,); a tweezer as in  the Koel, Cuckoo, Coucal, Crow, Rufous Treepie and Sparrow; a spear as in Crane, Herone, Stork, Egret,  and Kingfisher to thrust a fish; a shovel as in the Spoonbill, Swan, Geese and Duck; a hooked or curved bills  to tear the flesh as in Vulture, Kite, Owl, Owlet, Sea Gull and Common Kestrel; a straw to sip honey as in the Purple Sunbird. It is also useful in pulling and pushing varied materials to build their diverse nests.

The legs and the number of toes of birds too differ depending on their perching, preying and habitat. The body weight of the bird makes their tendons on legs to curl tight on tiny branches to give them a good grip even while sleeping. A large majority of the birds that I have observed are passerines like Common Crow, Common Myna, Magpie Robin, Fowl and Peacock, having three toes facing to the front and a hind toe facing backwards. This helps them perch on tree tops and also scrape on land for insects and grains. They are popular for their musical calls. They can comfortably walk on land. Another flock of birds like the Jungle Babbler, Woodpecker and Parrot have two toes in front and two hind toes. This helps them to hop on the ground and trees. The soaring birds of prey like Kite, Eagle and Common Kestrel have sharp and curved claws to pounce on, kill and grab their prey. The toes of Duck, Geese and Swan are connected by webs and therefore their movement is clumsy on land; but they waddle or smartly swim or swiftly swirl through water flapping their wings. I have had the chance to watch the flightless birds like Emu, having three pair of toes each and Ostrich having two pair of toes, which are fast runners.

I have noticed that the male birds are more attractive than their females. The varied colours of the different birds are eye-catching. The attractive quill feathers on their wings and tails help them fly. The plumage helps to keep their body warm. Once in a year the old feathers of a bird fall and new ones grow in. I used to collect them. It is interesting to observe the birds spend time to groom themselves. For preening their attractive feathers, they take out an oily liquid from their back portion of the tail with their bill. They rub this on their feathers to smoothen, shine and to make them waterproof.

Some of the small varieties used to hop around on the ground. They feed on worms, flies, insects that are harmful to the crops, leaves, fruits, seeds, grains and draw off honey from the flowers in the garden and fruit trees. As the birds helped in pollination and distribution of seeds and grains they are very farmer friendly. At times, they ate a few ripe plantain from our ripe banana bunches before we realized it. Some others like Kite, (Parunth), Common Kestrel (Eriyan), Spotted Owl (Nath) and Brown Owl (Pullu) fed on fish and / or a few rats. Many of these birds still frequent their refreshing dips in the bird-bath sunning them and majestically walking on our lawns are worth watching from a distance. I was surprised to see the common Crow, ‘Kakka’, a scavenger, taking bath twice or thrice a day to cool its body. Perhaps its black feathers absorbed more heat than the other birds that roamed around our garden. The Woodpecker pecked at the water to draw off water; it came to the bird bath during the peak of summer only. We observed that most of these birds responded whenever we imitated their calls. The bigger birds like the Water hen, (Kulakozhi), Egret, Stork and Pond Herons were seen near the ponds and paddy fields. I have noticed the water-hens coming daily in the morning and evening to our garden lawns. They feed on the insects and worms. They are shy birds who normally withdraw into the bushes at the sight of man. The Snake Darter would come to the paddy fields as well as the Vembanad ‘Kayal’. Some of the water-birds come from “Mangala –Vanom”, a mangrove forest behind the Kerala High Court building at Ernakulam. The paddy fields were in plenty here in my island and all of them were well cultivated. Kites and Sea Gulls could be seen hovering in the Vembanad ‘Kayal’ picking up prawns and other small fish. A small bird called the Sandpiper (Kuthi Kulukki Pakshi) was seen on the shores of Vembanad ‘Kayal’ picking up worms, small crabs and other crustaceans.

Some of the birds like the Common Myna (Madatha), Egret and Heron love their partnership with cattle. When the cattle graze on green patches the Common Myna feeds on the crickets and other insects that emerge out of their shelter in the blades of grass.  Some of the birds would perch themselves on the cattle and would pick out the lice from their bodies. Both creatures are mutually benefited. I have noticed this with our favourite cow Ammini who was reared at home. She used to be immobile when the Common Myna used to pick out the lice from her ears. Even birds like squirrels and monkeys alert other animals about the movement of snakes and other predators.

We loved to watch birds and had a lot of fun trying to locate their nests. Once they were located, we too contributed in supplying twigs, coir fiber, herbs and other little things to make the nests stronger. I have noticed that the male bird help their partners to find suitable nests. They also build nests for their females. The male birds like jungle babbler, Rooster and Peacock make such rhythmic movements and birds like Pigeon make a prolonged cooing sound in their nests when trying to attract a mate. When alarmed, pigeons utter a short grunting sound. I noticed that the birds practice both polygamy and polyandry. We used to check the various nests for their eggs daily. The eggs also varies in size and shape; some have light shells; some others have heavy shells. The Purple Sun-bird weaves tiny and beautiful nests with coir fibers. The inside is given a cushion effect by putting body feathers. Such nests are seen normally on shrub trees especially the Asoka-chethi. We have even spotted one of these nests in one corner of our cow shed. The Wood Pecker and Green Myna build nests by pecking neatly shaped holes on the trunks of lifeless trees or decayed branches. The Rufous Tree-pie (Ola-Naan) makes their nest by rounding the palm leaves atop coconut trees and it is interesting to watch them sitting in nests gently swaed in the breeze. Birds like Owls take shelter in the hollow trunks of decayed parts or branches of trees like the ‘Poovarasu’. I have also seen wild ducks lay their eggs in such niches found on trees. I have noticed the pigeons taking shelter in the crevices of granite blocks made on the sides of well. Some of the water birds made their nests in mangroves especially on the ‘Kandal’ tree. We got such joy when we fed the young ones with cereals or crickets or small variety of fish. We waited patiently to witness their maiden flight. If they staggered and fell on their way we helped them perch on a bushy shrub tree and protected them from predators like birds of prey and snakes. We made sure to see them fly off safely.

I wonder, whether the varied nests of birds and the abodes of other animals have helped men in their art of weaving and also in building their shelter.

I noticed an attractive white flower with light brown patches on a wild growth of climbers on top of a bushy shrub tree. This was a new and rare sight, which I had never seen before. Suddenly, I saw a small bird which I identified as a Swallow fly around the flower. It swooped down to settle itself on the bush. Almost immediately it flew off. I was curious to find out why it came on this hasty visit. So, I fetched a ladder and climbed on to it to have a closer view of the flower. I was amazed to find that they were the eggs laid by the Swallow. The eggs varied in their sizes and they had light brown patches on them. They looked like a wild flower from a distance. [On another occasion, during my visit to Elamkulam-Marantha village in Tirunelveli District, I was climbing a small hill which had a lot of loose laterite stones. Half way up I spotted a bird, the Common Hoopoe, (Uppupa epops), sitting quietly amongst the loose stones. When I went to take a closer look; it flew away and perched itself at a safe distance from me. I looked at the place where the bird was sitting but found nothing interesting, so I moved on. When I looked back; I was surprised to find that the bird had come back to the same spot, resting in the same posture as before. My curiosity was aroused, so I retraced my steps and made a closer inspection of the area. I was   overwhelmed at the sight of   four brick-red eggs with red patches on it. Mother Nature gave these tiny birds a peculiar gift to camouflage their eggs from the soaring birds of prey and other predators.]

There were some small sized birds which hovered around our courtyard and drank water from our bird bath. Most common were the Swallows, the House Sparrows, the Wagtails and a lot of others, which I am trying to identify with the help of a lens of a computer camera. These small birds feed on tender leaves, insects, grains, and fruits. They even love the ripe sour fruits of the ‘Irumban Puli’. These birds help in the distribution of seeds and grains. A lot of fruit trees like, Ayini, Arani, Guava, Asparagus, Choonda palm and Custard germinate and grow, when the birds left their droppings beneath shrub trees, lawns and open ground. Similarly they help in distributing a wide range of seeds of herbal plants and grains of grasses. The seeds and the grains obtain moisture and the warmth, when they pass through the digestive system of these birds. That provides a conducive atmosphere for the seeds and grains to germinate. The Jungle Babbler (Karikilanchi) brings in elephant grass especially if they come from the nearby forest areas like Thattekad Bird Sanctury. I have noticed that if a property is left untouched and uncultivated for fifty years then it would naturally become a forested land and if this happens in a delta, it becomes a mangrove.

During the winter season, we used to notice flights of birds high up in the sky in arrow head   formation in three or four rows transformed into one or two files like the military formations and / or other patterns heading south. The chirping made them flock together. A handful would descend and stay in our garden and neighbourhood before they left. These birds and / or their offsprings would return to the Himalayas and Siberia before the advent of the monsoon.

I was amazed to note that even smaller beings could adapt themselves to the modern trends in culture and civilization. Boundaries which used to be demarcated by hedge trees are now substituted by cement plastered brick walls. Therefore, there is scarcity for twigs for tiny birds to build their nests. Very recently when I was wandering around in the garden I heard a loud thud. Looking around I noticed that it was a crow’s nest. I wondered why it made such a loud noise. On inspecting it closely I was surprised to find that it was made with small bits of 8 mm.  Iron rods; tiny rods of umbrella and the inside are packed with herbal plants and a cushion effect has been given by putting little coir fiber.

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

An autobiography

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.

josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com

josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com