Birds Archives - My Writings

Some Fastest Species

Speed thrills human beings. But for animals it is the necessity. It makes some of them ace hunters and for others speed is a means of escaping the danger. So in their case it’s a means of survival. Men try to emulate the fastest speeds as in car racing which for sport and thrill.

In this post we will discuss about three species and about their speeds.

Tiger Beetles

Tiger beetles are known for their running speed md aggressive behaviour. It consists of many subspecies. Among them Rivacindela hudsoni species are special. They can run at speeds of 9 km per hour. This is equal to about 125 body lengths per second.

Peregrine falcon

It’s scientific name is Falco peregrinus. It is also called duck hawk perhaps due to its hunting of the ducks prominently. Except for Antarctica, it is found in almost all places around the world. It is an ace hunter. It soars high above the flocks of birds and after zeroing in on a particular bird it dives at speeds which can reach about 300 km per hour. It makes it not the fastest bird but also the fastest animal on the earth.

Cheetah

Cheetah is famous for being the fastest animal on the earth. It’s strong legs, lean body, enlarged heart and nostrils, strong paws which are partially intractable make it ideal for this job. Its average speed is about 64 km per hour. But can attain speeds upto 98 km per hour and that too in very small span of just 3 seconds from 60 km per hour average. But it can’t sustain the top speeds for long. They can run about just 450 meters at top speeds. It covers this distance in just 13 second making for the prey hard to escape.

Long Tailed Minivet

In this blog post, I will be Post some information about the bird called Long Tailed Minivet. I have spotted them and photographed in a forest near my home.

I go for bird photography everyday in the morning. My visits are nearby Forest, river side and other areas under the foothills.

Our area abuts the Shiwalik hills. As it happens, when the winters become too harsh, many birds descend to the adjacent areas to escape the winter and food shortages.

In the forest near my home, many such birds come in the winter. One of these is a beautiful bird called Long Tailed Minivet.

Long Tailed Minivet is a small bird. The males are red and black and females are grey yellow. They are found in South and Southeast Asia. They feed on very small insects living on the leaves of trees. You can judge from their typical short calls their presence. They come in a flock of 5 to 6.

I have observed that there is a single male among the 4 to 5 females. It is very difficult to take their good picture. They don’t stay at any position more than 15 seconds. Secondly they try to stay among the shadows of sense trees.

i waw lucky to take some good pictures which I am posting here. Hope you will like them.

Empty Nest Syndrome

A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and causes which results in some kind of mental health problems. Syndromes mostly are connected to the medical science.

There are many syndromes. One of these is called “Empty Nest Syndrome“. We will be talking about it in this post.

As the name suggests, a nest is a home to the bird’s chicks. The birds make nests exclusively to lay eggs, hatching them and provide shelter and food to the chicks till the time they are not independent.

Once the chicks are strong then they fly out of the nest and start with trial and error the independent lives. Outside the nest, the parents keep caring them for a while.

Birds contrary to the common belief, don’t live in the nests. The nests are constructed only during breeding time.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/509658/What-to-do-when-the-children-move-out/amp

Due to this belief, humans equate the homes to the nests. Parents and children all live in it. The bond between them is very strong because of living under a common roof, sharing food, together watching, learning and doing other things humans do.

As the children grow, they go out for studies and then getting jobs and becoming independent individuals. In this process, a day comes when all the children leave the house leaving behind parents. This is to some extent akin to emptying the nest.

Whereas birds don’t grieve over the empty nests, the human beings take it to heart. Mothers especially feel alone and life suddenly seems to have lost its purpose. Some mothers can cry and become stressful after their loved ones are gone away.

Although they are not the first nor will be the last whose children have left them. They themselves once had left their parent’s home to begin their own independent journey. And this goes on.

In the modern times research indicates that in a way when children leave, it is an opportunity for the parents to rediscover their bond which after the birth of the children had lost amidst the rearing of the children. So they can enjoy their togetherness once again although may not be physically.

There is another viewpoint also. For those couples in which each individual is fiercely independent and happy with self, it is the children which are like slats to keep the blinds together. So when the children leave, they can find time and freedom to enjoy their individual lives.

Travels along Morni Hills Road

Morni is a hill station about 55 kilometers away from Chandigarh. Morni in local language is referred to peahen. The name is derived from the name of girl of a local ruler. There were many small princely states all over Shavlik hills. The rulers were mostly Rajput many of whom owed allegiance to Mughals. Morni hills were ruled by Rajput from Sirmaur which is near Nahan in Himachal Pradesh. The place is situated in Shavlik hills and can be reached through a road from Panchkula. The map of the road is given below:

The road is serpentine because hilly area begins just after crossing the Panchkula and after a continuous climb for about 20 kilometers from Panchkula, the path begins to descend. I have gone up to point where this descent begins.

There are hills covered with wild shrubs and trees including teak. When you begin the journey towards Morni from Panchkula there are hills covered with thorny acacia trees. Hordes of monkeys roam along the road. All day they are there squatting on edges of road and climbing on the adjacent trees. People who came to visit Shiva temple near Berwala, gave them banana and other eatables. This causes the menace to normal visitor who is afraid to get down.

On the way, is Gauri Shankar temple which is seldom open. It seems more of a private property of some Guru who enjoy immense clout over politicians rather than a public place as the temples are generally opened to public. After about 8 kilometers there is small bridge on a seasonal branch of Ghaggar river which is dry in the summers. There is a place with dense trees and foliage along the river which is marked as a bird sanctuary. But you have to be very patience for sighting the birds.

There are few fields where farmers can be seen working. The area beyond Panchkula suddenly takes on an idyllic character. Hills along gorges seem like walls of brown mud completely devoid of greenery except the exposed roots of some trees at the top. In these walls, one can see parrots clinging on to the holes which they must have dug for raising their nests.

One can also come across, the men and women sitting in the cars stopped at different spots engaged in cavorting activities from the city giving slip to their legal partners. Groups of young boys and girls can be seen drinking and making merry. Due to the drunken driving in the hills many a times fatal accidents have been reported.

There are Gray langurs, also called Hanuman langurs or Hanuman monkeys hiding in the bushes and occasionally coming into open on the road or to cross the road. They seem to be shy of humans and avoid humans unlike the monkeys. There are many birds and trees which bear flowers and adorn the landscape.

Birds

Trees

Animals

Observing the Nature

How often do we leisurely watch the nature around us? General answer will be not often. Do we sit out in the evening and watch the sun going down, its glow becoming golden, and shadows lengthening and blinking through the chinks in the trees? Do we watch the groups of birds flying towards their homes after spending their day in a far off place where the food is available to forage?

Why, in the first place, they don’t make their resting places near the food. May be the supply is not available at one place throughout the year and their resting places are at optimum distance from the foraging places. Why do they always fly in the groups? Is not their pressure or competition for food? Is the father of Evolution theory listening?

After reeling under the sweltering heat for many days, if there is rain, it is like a fresh breath of life. The parched land is drenched with water pushing out the air filled with earth’s aromas into the atmosphere and filling our nostrils with ecstasy. The accompanying wind rushes into the branches which sway from side to side at the top such as in the mighty silver oak trees.

One wonders how the topmost leaves are receiving their requirement of water and nutrients. In optimistic hope of supply from the soil, additionally they must be conserving the water by reducing their stomata counts, As they are in the top, they have the benefit of plenty of sunlight. I also wonder if the leaves at the top are in any sort of communication with those at the lower branches.

Rain patters on the tins of roofs. Water begins to flow over the soil surface seeking places which are at lower level to become pooled there. The dust on the leaves which was choking the plants breath is washed up and translucency returns. Sometimes after the rain, sun comes out and everything shines resplendently. The weather becomes bearable.

Darkness

Darkness is a much maligned being. Everyone praises the light, everyone advocates in the favour of light. Especially on the occasion of Diwali, the most common refrain begins with “Let there be light……”, as if we are living in the dark till now.

Importance of light is due to the darkness. In fact they follow each other. It is only for darkness, we admire the light. The truth is that we have been blessed to see only a very narrow spectrum of the reality. It is a very narrow window in comparison to the whole spectrum.

We are not able to see beyond the infrared and ultraviolet region. Only a minuscule window is available for us. Birds and bees are better off than us in this regard. Bees for example can see in the ultraviolet region. Birds can see in the lower frequencies than infrared.

In fact, the visible is just an iceberg floating in the sea of hidden or darkness. Dark matter which is counterpart of the visible matter is many times bigger.

Darkness is absolutely necessary for shutting down the process visible inputs to our mind. It forces the humans to sleep and rejuvenate the brain by giving it the necessary respite. Receptors especially eyes & ears are always receiving and feeding the information to the brain. They keep the brain busy. So the darkness helps to shut down these receptors periodically.

Everything exists in pairs in the universe. One is complementary to the other. Matter has antimatter, electron has positron, vice has virtue, Ravana has Rama, Yin has Yang, eggs have sperms, night has day as their complements. Think if everyone were good or everyone were bad, the evolution or progress will come to a grinding halt. Humans thrive on the competition, dominating others is in their blood. If it were not true, life would be so boring. Species will not have to do anything for survival. No one will challenge others as everyone will be satisfied and have no aspiration.

Palash Flowers: The Flame of Jungle

When Palash tree flowers in the jungle, it seems that whole area is on fire. That is why the tree is also called Flame of the forest. Near Panchkula which is our native place are Shivalik hills. One of places in these hills is called Morni. The entire route passes through hills and zigzag. There are streams passing through under the bridges. A number of wild trees and plants grow. It is a very picturesque site.

We go on to that route many times just for drive. There are hordes of monkeys and langoors. This time we went yesterday. There is a part of jungle adjoining a stream and lots of trees which is marked as bird habitat.

From the beginning of the hilly road, there were beautiful blossoms of trees called Palash. There season has just begun. At many places there are clumps of many of these trees. The intense light red colored flower bunches look as if jungle is on fire. There are very few leaves on these trees when they bloom. These trees are also called Flame of the Forest due to this. This tree is also called Bastard Teak. It’s scientific name is Butea monosperma

Palash Flowers were very favorite of Gurudeb Rabindra Nath Tagore. It is the state tree Indian state of Jharkhand. The flowers often figure in his poetry. Famous battle of Plassey is also named after the name given the area because of jungles of Palash.

The tree parts are used in tanning, organic colors are made from the flowers. Since its wood is water resistant it is used to make ladles.

A lots of insects and bees converge on these trees for nectar. Similarly many birds can be seen visiting these trees.

We took some shots…

Animals take drugs when in grief

Man’s penchant for getting drunk is much older than keeping himself clean. I mean the use of alcohol and other substances obtained from plants which give high is much older than the invention of soap for cleaning the body.

But it is not only the humans who feel the need to get a high but many animals also are similar. Johann Hari, who is the author of book “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs” has spent 25 years observing the behaviour of animals when they are alarmed or in grief. He began his research after going through the findings on this subject by Ronald Siegel. For example,

Siegel had planted “Silver Morning Glory” a plant containing powerful hallucinating chemicals in a pen of Hawaiian mongoose. The when tasted it leaves felt disoriented and avoided the plant altogether. But there happened a tropical storm which destroyed the den, filled it with mud and left the female dead. The male returned to the plant and ate its leaves to get blasted out of mind. After that Hari began his research and found more evidence.

For example, in Vietnam, he found that prior to bombings in the Vietnam war with America, the buffaloes never chewed on opium plants. But when the bombings began, the water buffaloes ate the opium plants. They became dull and dizzy to escape their thoughts like mongoose. Similarly, bees fell to ground in a temporary stupor after sampling the numbing nectar of certain orchids. Birds gorge themselves on inebriating berries, then fly with reckless abandon.

His more observations are given below : “Cats eagerly sniff aromatic “pleasure” plants, then play with imaginary objects. Cows that browse special range weeds will twitch, shake, and stumble back to the plants for more. Elephants purposely get drunk off fermented fruits. Snacks of “magic mushrooms” cause monkeys to sit with their heads in their hands in a posture reminiscent of Rodin’s Thinker. The pursuit of intoxication by animals seems as purposeless as it is passionate”

Lantana Shrubs

It is the start of month of September. Still it is very hot during the day but mornings have begun to become cooler. Sometimes very strong breeze welcomes you when you are outdoors.

While going out these days in the morning, I noticed multitudes of butterflies. These although are very agile and usually rarely sit still at one place are seen sitting peacefully on the leaves of shrubs.

There are many species of shrubs growing wildly in our area. Names of many of these are not known to me as will be to others because no one is interested in knowing the names of weeds and shrubs which are of no tangible use to us although nothing exists in nature that is without purpose.

There is one such shrub which grows abundantly here and these days giving different color of flowers. While passing by these shrubs you will be welcomed by strong aromatic smell exuded by these flowers.

Lantana’s aromatic flowers clusters called umbels are a mix of red, orange, yellow, or blue and white florets. Other colors exist as new varieties are being selected. The flowers typically change color as they mature, resulting in inflorescences that are two- or three-colored.

About 150 species exist worldwide. The leaves contain poisonous chemicals but its ripe berries are eaten by many birds. Thus the plant uses very clever strategy to survive and propagate. Animals don’t eat its leaves and birds spread its seeds far and near helping the plant to proliferate. Thus at many places it becomes invasive irritant.

I took some pictures of flowers of different varieties prevalent here.