Jesus taught us birdwatching. So why not watch birds? I took to the fascination of watching the winged creatures in our backyard. We have a strip of 20 feet by 10 feet with a sappota tree (chikku) in it. It is the haunt of squirrels, lizzards, monkeys, birds, butterflies, snakes and an occasional mongoose along with our golden Labrador. This is my funworld since I sit near this window to do all my writing. I kept a dish of water and started scattering grains everyday.
The mynas came and the seven sisters with them entertaining me. That was not all. I was taken by a big surprise when I started observing familiar and unfamiliar birds. The smallest of sparrows frequented the place. Then came the blackbird with white stripes. I named it Fool because our dog Thunder caught one or two of them. But the regular visitors I named as Minnie, the female smaller one with a shrill voice and Manna, the bigger male with a cracking voice. Minnie was the first to come and then after a month Manna started coming with her.
A few years ago a kingfisher used to sit on our backyard compound wall. Now and then I used to think about it and wonder if it was dead or alive and if it would still remember our house. One day we put Lakman Rekha (Cockroach killer chalk piece) in our pigeon house on the roof and it rained about a thousand cockroaches all around our house. We had to sweep and remove them. And you know what? The next day the kingfisher came home and sat on the sappota tree. Every now and then she would dip down, pick up a dead cockroach, fly back to the branches and slowly gulp it down. My granddaughter and her friends were thrilled to see such a scene at close quarters. She is now a regular visitor and my granddaughter has named her Judy. Now my family joins me to watch the fun.
One day I heard a gurgling sound and rushed out to see who it was. It was a grey-blue-orange bird. There was a rush of emotion all over me. The pleasure was intoxicating. I told my neighbour about it. Now she, her guests and her old father come to our house to see any new visitor. This bird, as we found out from a magazine and Google is called Treepie. Soon her mate joined her. I notice with surprise that the male voice is different from the female in each species.
Different types of sparrows joined the bandwagon. The Hippies, as we call them have a tuft - a sharp projection like a conical cap on the head. The ordinary sparrows came in different shapes, sizes and colours. The Robins would hip - hop, turn around and lift up their tail to reveal the red patch there, making me burst forth into a merry laughter. It is fantastic to watch them have a bath.
One day a blackbird alighted on the branches. It had a glimmering sheen and ruby red eyes. I phoned my neighbour and she and her guest came and sat there glued to their chairs till the show was over. We found out its name to be Black Drongo. Other birds that visit us are the Yelow Breasted Swallow, Blackie, White Throated Fantail, Jewel (because it had a red patch on its neck), Blackhead, bulbul and Dovesparrow (many are the names we gave). We have so far observed 25 different types of birds.
The humming birds love the cocooned area. It is breath taking to watch them suck honey from the flowers. Have you ever seen a butterfly eat fruits? Well, I have! One day I watched a butterfly for a long long time, sitting on a bite-site on a sappota fruit (bitten by either squirrel or monkey) and suck the juice!
Once during lunch time my granddaughter Vivilia suddenly got up from her chair and said, “Ussss, watch there.” All heads turned. What do you think we saw? A majestic Koel (Shenbagam) sitting up! She got down, gulped down a sappota bit and flew up and perched on the branch. We all stood up in respect of that awesome bird. After a month the mate was there with its “ong, ong, ong” call. I imagine the female telling the male, “Don’ worry, it is a safe place. There is water and grain. Come on, join me,” and bringing him to our small paradise. They are Raja and Rani.
From that time onwards I switched places from my seat facing away from the window to one facing the window so as not to miss a single tingling scene.
One day I watched transfixed, a bird drinking water from the dish. Another bird sat on the other edge of the dish. The first bird got angry, ruffled its feathers and pushed the bird away, pecking at it. The poor bird went up the tree, waited patiently and came down to drink after the first one had its fill and left the place.
Sometimes they pick up a fight among themselves and their cacophony fills our entire compound, making me feel as if I’m inside a jungle. There are 10 tall trees in our small compound. When the almond trees are heavy with fruits, the parrots come in batches for a feast. They are also very fond of the Evergreen leaves, aplenty in our house. Each bird squeaks aloud, “God cares for me. Don’t worry, He cares for you too.”
Once our helper boy (from Sitheri Hills) climbed up our coconut tree and caught a big owl, one and a half foot high. After two days of fun we released it. He also put in his hand inside a hole in the coconut tree trunk and presented us with a honeycomb.
Once he caught a mouse and kept it inside the pudding dish for us to see! That’s by the way. I should not forget to add that we rear about 100 pigeons on our roof top who regularly supply us with meat.
One day when I lifted up my head from my work, my eyes met the eyes of a strange visitor. Lying there on the branch that stretched towards our window was a 6 foot snake wagging is cloven tongue. “Eeek,” I screamed and ran to call my husband. But the disturbed serpent slithered and disappeared. The next time he visited he received a thrashing from my husband. He is yet to visit again. I suppose all paradises have snakes!
Well, then, disaster struck. We saw a hawk perched there with grey and white ruffled feathers. We oohed and aahed. It turned its head this way and that with its sharp bent beak and wicked look. It joined the birds of paradise — or so we thought. Then something sorrowful happened. One by one the birds stopped coming. I can almost hear the birds talk among themselves, “Don’t go there. There is a predator waiting to gobble us up.” Our garden became deserted. I decided to gently shoo the hawk away, next time it visited but she too never made her appearance again.
I started earnestly praying for the return of my feathered friends. After a month a Treepie flew in and danced a little jig as if to assure me, “Don’t worry, we are all here.” Then a little yellow sparrow came and chirped, “We love you. We’ll all be back.” I felt relieved. Ushsh! the hippies are here!
Can you believe all this is happening within a rectangle of 90 feet by 40 feet in the heart of Vellore? I won’t be surprised if one day a find a peacock or an ostrich in our backyard.
Now, What are you waiting for? Walk into your garden and place a dish of water. Then scatter grains everyday and watch a wonderworld unfold before you.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, 8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
Jesus taught us birdwatching. So why not watch birds? I took to the fascination of watching the winged creatures in our backyard. We have a strip of 20 feet by 10 feet with a sappota tree (chikku) in it. It is the haunt of squirrels, lizzards, monkeys, birds, butterflies, snakes and an occasional mongoose along with our golden Labrador. This is my funworld since I sit near this window to do all my writing. I kept a dish of water and started scattering grains everyday.
The mynas came and the seven sisters with them entertaining me. That was not all. I was taken by a big surprise when I started observing familiar and unfamiliar birds. The smallest of sparrows frequented the place. Then came the blackbird with white stripes. I named it Fool because our dog Thunder caught one or two of them. But the regular visitors I named as Minnie, the female smaller one with a shrill voice and Manna, the bigger male with a cracking voice. Minnie was the first to come and then after a month Manna started coming with her.
A few years ago a kingfisher used to sit on our backyard compound wall. Now and then I used to think about it and wonder if it was dead or alive and if it would still remember our house. One day we put Lakman Rekha (Cockroach killer chalk piece) in our pigeon house on the roof and it rained about a thousand cockroaches all around our house. We had to sweep and remove them. And you know what? The next day the kingfisher came home and sat on the sappota tree. Every now and then she would dip down, pick up a dead cockroach, fly back to the branches and slowly gulp it down. My granddaughter and her friends were thrilled to see such a scene at close quarters. She is now a regular visitor and my granddaughter has named her Judy. Now my family joins me to watch the fun.
One day I heard a gurgling sound and rushed out to see who it was. It was a grey-blue-orange bird. There was a rush of emotion all over me. The pleasure was intoxicating. I told my neighbour about it. Now she, her guests and her old father come to our house to see any new visitor. This bird, as we found out from a magazine and Google is called Treepie. Soon her mate joined her. I notice with surprise that the male voice is different from the female in each species.
Different types of sparrows joined the bandwagon. The Hippies, as we call them have a tuft - a sharp projection like a conical cap on the head. The ordinary sparrows came in different shapes, sizes and colours. The Robins would hip - hop, turn around and lift up their tail to reveal the red patch there, making me burst forth into a merry laughter. It is fantastic to watch them have a bath.
One day a blackbird alighted on the branches. It had a glimmering sheen and ruby red eyes. I phoned my neighbour and she and her guest came and sat there glued to their chairs till the show was over. We found out its name to be Black Drongo. Other birds that visit us are the Yelow Breasted Swallow, Blackie, White Throated Fantail, Jewel (because it had a red patch on its neck), Blackhead, bulbul and Dovesparrow (many are the names we gave). We have so far observed 25 different types of birds.
The humming birds love the cocooned area. It is breath taking to watch them suck honey from the flowers. Have you ever seen a butterfly eat fruits? Well, I have! One day I watched a butterfly for a long long time, sitting on a bite-site on a sappota fruit (bitten by either squirrel or monkey) and suck the juice!
Once during lunch time my granddaughter Vivilia suddenly got up from her chair and said, “Ussss, watch there.” All heads turned. What do you think we saw? A majestic Koel (Shenbagam) sitting up! She got down, gulped down a sappota bit and flew up and perched on the branch. We all stood up in respect of that awesome bird. After a month the mate was there with its “ong, ong, ong” call. I imagine the female telling the male, “Don’ worry, it is a safe place. There is water and grain. Come on, join me,” and bringing him to our small paradise. They are Raja and Rani.
From that time onwards I switched places from my seat facing away from the window to one facing the window so as not to miss a single tingling scene.
One day I watched transfixed, a bird drinking water from the dish. Another bird sat on the other edge of the dish. The first bird got angry, ruffled its feathers and pushed the bird away, pecking at it. The poor bird went up the tree, waited patiently and came down to drink after the first one had its fill and left the place.
Sometimes they pick up a fight among themselves and their cacophony fills our entire compound, making me feel as if I’m inside a jungle. There are 10 tall trees in our small compound. When the almond trees are heavy with fruits, the parrots come in batches for a feast. They are also very fond of the Evergreen leaves, aplenty in our house. Each bird squeaks aloud, “God cares for me. Don’t worry, He cares for you too.”
Once our helper boy (from Sitheri Hills) climbed up our coconut tree and caught a big owl, one and a half foot high. After two days of fun we released it. He also put in his hand inside a hole in the coconut tree trunk and presented us with a honeycomb.
Once he caught a mouse and kept it inside the pudding dish for us to see! That’s by the way. I should not forget to add that we rear about 100 pigeons on our roof top who regularly supply us with meat.
One day when I lifted up my head from my work, my eyes met the eyes of a strange visitor. Lying there on the branch that stretched towards our window was a 6 foot snake wagging is cloven tongue. “Eeek,” I screamed and ran to call my husband. But the disturbed serpent slithered and disappeared. The next time he visited he received a thrashing from my husband. He is yet to visit again. I suppose all paradises have snakes!
Well, then, disaster struck. We saw a hawk perched there with grey and white ruffled feathers. We oohed and aahed. It turned its head this way and that with its sharp bent beak and wicked look. It joined the birds of paradise — or so we thought. Then something sorrowful happened. One by one the birds stopped coming. I can almost hear the birds talk among themselves, “Don’t go there. There is a predator waiting to gobble us up.” Our garden became deserted. I decided to gently shoo the hawk away, next time it visited but she too never made her appearance again.
I started earnestly praying for the return of my feathered friends. After a month a Treepie flew in and danced a little jig as if to assure me, “Don’t worry, we are all here.” Then a little yellow sparrow came and chirped, “We love you. We’ll all be back.” I felt relieved. Ushsh! the hippies are here!
Can you believe all this is happening within a rectangle of 90 feet by 40 feet in the heart of Vellore? I won’t be surprised if one day a find a peacock or an ostrich in our backyard.
Now, What are you waiting for? Walk into your garden and place a dish of water. Then scatter grains everyday and watch a wonderworld unfold before you.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, Mob:8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
