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The Cattle Egrets And The Copper Pod Trees

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by GeetaKashyap, Mar 4, 2018.

  1. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    *************PART 1**************

    [​IMG]
    Mummy collecting twigs to build the nest


    Our residential area has plenty of tall trees. Most of the street trees are copper pod trees (also known as, yellow-flamboyant, yellow flame tree, yellow poinciana or yellow-flame) with bright yellow flowers and brownish pods. There are just a few gulmohur (the Royal Poinciana), peepal (sacred fig), jamun and the rain trees. In the compounds of some private buildings, there are a few mango, coconut, moringa, jackfruit, eucalyptus, ashoka (the Mast tree) and the beautiful cannonball trees. That is a good amount of greenery, by today’s standards.

    When there are so many trees, there are also quite a few birds like the common ravens, crows, sparrows and pigeons. We have also spotted the cuckoo, which I believe is a resident of the mango trees in the neighbouring compounds but likes to visit the lush copper pod trees from time to time. Once I saw this cuckoo couple resting on a TV cable wire nearby, such sightings are a rarity! The parrots, mynas, the colourful little finches visit very rarely but our resident tree owners i.e., the crow and the squirrel, chase these little birds out in no time. I have also seen the black drongo and the barn owl a couple of times. Eagles and their shrill cries are often heard when they are doing their routine aerial surveys. We have also spotted many other types of birds that we could not identify. There is also a sizable population of bats, squirrels and garden lizards in these trees. All these creatures love the lush copper pod trees more than the other trees. Today’s story is about our visiting birds, the cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis, Bagula, Heron) which have been coming to breed on the copper pod trees of our area for the last fifteen-odd years.


    [​IMG]
    Daddy is busy inspecting something :)
    [​IMG]
    Mummy is proudly scouting the area

    The activity of all types of birds increases as the warm summer sets in. The first bird to catch our attention is the cuckoo. Initially, their calls sound so pleasant heralding the spring/summer but as the days progress, they get very loud and also nasty at times, by May. I wonder if it is the peak of their mating season!

    The cattle egrets come here for breeding sometime in March and leave latest by October-November. The excitement they create during this period is impressive. Even though we have seen them enough, my son and I are always excited and rush out to see them the moment we hear their first ‘screechy quack’. Our excitement is akin to meeting a close family member visiting us after a long time! Today(4, March 2018), we heard their loud calls indicating their arrival and we could spot a couple of them sitting high up on the copper pod tree; they were perhaps looking out for good nesting sites. Nesting activity will begin probably in a couple of weeks. Earlier the all-white egrets nested near my house but lately the egrets that nest are white with orange-brown plumage. But in our area, both the varieties are seen.

    Earlier when the trees were just 20 odd feet high, these birds could be spotted easily but now the canopies of these trees have reached a height of nearly 45-50 feet. So from the ground, we can get only partial glimpses of these majestic birds having a gala time on the treetops, spreading their large wings while shifting from one branch to the other.

    As we get used to the on and off sightings of these birds, suddenly one day we get to hear frenzied cawing and fluttering of the crows along with the loud quacks of the egrets. A territorial fight begins between the crows and the cattle egrets. After a couple of days of territorial fights, the egrets win their rights for temporary occupancy and that is indicated by the loud calls of these birds and these triumphant calls are definitely different from their regular brief calls!


    (I have to admit that we are partial to these egrets and find faults with the crows who are actually the permanent residents of this tree. Obviously, the crows have more rights over the tree. Still, we have a soft corner for the egrets. Could this be our bias and preference for the fair coloured birds! Do I hear someone scream RACISM? Oh, No! Honestly, I feel for the crows, but…the egrets are also important. Sorry, I can’t make up my mind. One more reason for the crows’ resentment could be that these egrets steal the nesting materials from the crow nests intimidating the puny crows with their larger bodies and wingspan and I have witnessed this action a couple of times! How I wish we could film them continuously and study their lives and habits!)

    Having crossed the first hurdle, their hectic nesting activity begins. During the early hours or in the hot afternoons, when the traffic and movement of people are less, these birds come to the ground for inspecting the neighbourhood and also to collect the twigs for building the nest. They even break the dry and slender branches of the trees to build their nests. As the initial excitement settles, people are occasionally reminded of these birds by their disturbed quacks, which could be because of the disturbances created by the mischievous crows or the mean squirrels. (Or could it be misunderstanding or fight between the egret couple? We would never know; more research is needed to check how their conjugal lives are! Would they also have ego issues?) When the eggs hatch the period of intense activity and noise begins, this is around the month of April-May. The male bird (I guess) makes innumerable trips getting food for the mother and the chicks. Sometimes, for extended periods both the parents disappear leaving the chicks alone. These chicks are very noisy, constantly clucking through the day and night. Hardly for a few hours in the day are their mouths shut. Through the day and night, we hear their cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck… cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck!!!!!!!!!!! Their clucking is almost like a curse on sleepless nights.


    [​IMG]
    The youngest and the noisiest chicks! Cluck cluck cluck… cluck cluck cluck cluck...
    ***********END OF PART1***********
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2018
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  2. kalcandu

    kalcandu Silver IL'ite

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    Superb photos and engaging write up. The birds look beautiful.
     
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  3. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    **********PART 2**********

    (When my son was younger he would wonder why they clucked so constantly. He would ask, “Mumma, how much food can they demand and eat, and still make so much noise? Won’t their Mumma get angry nor have a headache? Won’t she ever ask them to shut up?

    I would tell him, “Mummy can never get tired of her children’s sounds and perhaps she must be smiling with satisfaction that her chicks are so healthy and agile. Their clucking must be music to her ears!”…

    Hearing the chirping birds, my son would sometimes point excitedly, “Mumma, can you make out the difference in their voices? One little birdy’s voice is shriller than that of the other and that must be a female. Even in our class, girls have a shrill voice! Thus making me chuckle as at an age of 5-6, both the boys and the girls sound alike, yet my macho son would imagine himself having a manly voice!

    When my son was growing up there were more than a dozen boys in the neighbourhood, of all age groups between 5 and 15. Our street would be so noisy because of these children playing, screaming, fighting, shouting and crying. Even amongst so many children, my ears would be acutely tuned to my son’s voice, wherever he would be in any of the neighbouring buildings. The moment I would sense his irritated or distressed voice, I would rush to his rescue in no time like a genie! I now wonder how I could stay so alert and be tuned to him all the time! I guess that is an intrinsic quality God has bestowed upon every mother!)



    [​IMG]
    The older chick enjoying the breeze and the sunset :)

    Last year, the egret nests were almost over 45-50 feet above the ground (This year also it will be the same) and it was difficult to see them clearly amidst the thick foliage. So my son went to the building terrace and clicked a few pictures using his mobile phone. The picture quality may not be great but they are good enough to tell the story. We were pleasantly surprised to see two chicks each of two different age groups. The older chicks were over a foot high and had acquired the beautiful white and orangish brown plumage like their parents. But their faces were very innocent. (This was in May, last year) Rarely do they come down to discover the area and they are already good at flying. The younger chicks appear small, white and fluffy with black beaks. These are the noisy ones. At this stage, they are not good flyers but they can manage short flights and they get into trouble if they come on the ground.


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    Doesn't their feathers ruffled by the wind make them look very very cute?

    Earlier (12-14 years back), when the tree canopies were hardly twenty feet above the ground, often these little ones would come on the ground and face misery. They would come under the wheels or the dogs would catch them. The neighbouring building was under construction and those workers would catch these chicks to eat. In those days all of us thought these birds were migrants from some far off country and we were very protective towards them. Many took it upon themselves to educate these workers about protecting these assumed foreign visitors. A couple of times my son had caught such wandering chicks and he wanted to raise them at home! Since the tree trunks lacked branches, we would struggle to put these scared chicks back on the trees. Once we had even called the Fire engine office for this purpose as they regularly come to our area to free a pigeon or a crow caught may be between the tree branches or in the leftover manjas. Then we were told that only when the bird is above the ground they come to their rescue and if the bird is already on the ground, the bird’s safety is not their responsibility! (This is some General Knowledge for all!)

    [​IMG]
    The older chicks enjoying the breeze and the sunset :)

    As the breeding season continues, the entire neighbourhood starts getting a little irritated due to these birds’ thick paint like droppings that deface the road, parked cars and also they target the unsuspecting passers-by with great accuracy! They spare nobody :)

    As the monsoons begin, the rains lash mercilessly. These birds withstand its fury and stay put. Then their trouble starts first with the municipality workers trimming the trees indiscriminately in the rainy season and later with the noisy Ganesha festival and the Diwali. Even otherwise, by Diwali, rains reduce and heat picks up once again signalling that it is time for these birds to move on. One fine day without a whimper they vanish leaving us with a great sense of loss; parting is always painful. Somewhere in between all the monsoon fury, deluge, tree falls and the festivities, the cuckoo’s calls also disappear. Soon we forget these birds and make do with our regular crows and pigeons.

    [​IMG]
    Mummy has joined her older chick and they are discussing something important.

    By the end of October and the beginning of November, as the autumn sets in, our copper pod tree starts shedding her leaves as if she is mourning the loss of these egrets and she will be reduced to bare branches in a few days. All her dried tiny leaves increase the sweeper’s job. In India, it is a dull period when the dark green leaves turn yellow, brown and fall; nothing spectacular as in the west. Again by January, beautiful light green leaves begin to grow over this tree and a new season begins. With the beginning of March, as the nip in the air vanishes and the sun begins to shine bright, even we start looking forward to our majestic visitors once again and our lives continue as always, flowing with the seasons; reaching the crest sometimes or hitting the troughs! Behind all these is a lesson of hope and impermanence.


    As long as the natural cycles are uninterrupted,
    there is living in harmony;
    the end symbolizes the new beginning...
    and the cycle continues.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2018
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  4. kalcandu

    kalcandu Silver IL'ite

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    You are so blessed to have these birds in your neighborhood. In cities we hardly get to see any birds, except crows. Loved the part 2 photos and write up as well. Love how you introspect and humanize your observations about the birds. Kudos for your efforts!
     
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  5. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    @kalcandu,

    Thanks a million. At first, I saw a single comment and reacted taking liberties. (Did you read that?:flushed:) I am happy, very happy to get your second comment. Thanks again:)
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2018
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  6. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    @Thyagarajan Sir,

    I have fulfilled my promise:) Hope you like it.
     
  7. nandinimithun

    nandinimithun IL Hall of Fame

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    Nature lover geets....
    Honestly i felt like as though i am staying in your colony and watching these birds everyday....
    Loved your narration and the beautiful pics....
    You are blessed to have so many beauties with you....
     
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  8. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    Thanks, buddy, for being there always for me.
     
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  9. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    What a beautiful subject to write about and very well written too. What a joy it must be to see this cycle of life unfold around you and be able to share it with your son! While I adore the California landscape, I still feel a deep attachment to the peepal, ashok, gulmohar and amaltas trees I grew up around. When I was there, they were present but unseen, now they haven taken on a larger than life stature in my memories. I grew up in military cantonments and was lucky to live in mini-jungles in the midst of dense urbanity. In one of the cantonments, they built an artificial lake for military exercises—war games, bridge deployment etc. Within a year, so many birds and other animal species started nesting around the lake that the army was forced to declare it as a protected habitat. : ) I took many a solitary walk around that lake. Your write-up transported me back to those beautiful days!
     
  10. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    @Gauri03,

    The above statement excited me as I visualised it; how cute and simple their lives are! They live in the moment and that is the reason they don't harm the nature. Isn't that called being mindful? In contrast, we live thinking about future; ours and our future generations! This is what breeds the greed and unhappiness and finally, without a care, we destroy our environment.

    Thanks for your wonderful feedback.
     
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