Birds Near My House

Predator Birds Once I happened to notice a pale-looking pigeon or dove in one corner of my Backyard. For a pigeon, it was pale gray. I went up with curiosity to greet the bird. It turned around and I was startled to see the face of an eagle on a pigeon’s body. It also was startled to see me and flew away. I questioned the identity of the bird to some of my wildlife photographer friends. One of them replied that it is a Shikra. The next time I saw the bird in my backyard making an innocent pee pee call looking all around the garden. There was pin-drop silence in the environment. All the birds and small creatures had gone into hiding once the predator arrives. It called for some time and flew away from the backyard. Shikra  On one early morning as the birds are having breakfast in our backyard. A Shikra arrived from a neighboring place and landed on a coconut tree branch. I heard some shrieks and squeals from rose-ringed parakeets seated on the adjacent coconut tree branc...

BulBul    I have sighted around 3 types of Bulbuls in the nearby woods.   Red-whiskered Bulbul,  Red-vented Bulbul,  and  White Browed Bulbul .   The first two are quite common in some areas of Mysore city. I see both the species foraging for invertebrates on trees and on the ground during the daybreak escorted with their lovely tunes.     During this summer, some  Red Vented Bulbuls  took shelter in our abandoned neighbors’ house by entering the premises through a broken glass window. They had frequent squabbles with the common mynas to fight for the habitat. Like other insectivorous birds, these birds come down to drink water and have a dip in the water bowl laid out for them.       Red-whiskered Bulbuls seem to be more active and restless than their cousins Red Vented Bulbuls. Due to this reason,  I find it difficult to capture them on my camera. They are busy foraging from one tree to another during t...

     There are several Doves who live around in our backyards. During the time of house construction visit to this place, I could hear a bird call with a peculiar laugh mostly with a boasting attitude one of the tall trees. The call was louder and harsher than the rock pigeon. A few months later I came to know they were Laughing Doves .  A Pair of Laughing Doves       In the initial stages, I was unable to identify a laughing dove apart from the Spotted Dove who also dwells in the woods. After studying the birds’ books and google searches, I was able to clarify my doubts regarding them. Spotted doves too are visitors to our garden, but less seen and more heard. They are a bit bigger in size than Laughing Dove with spots on their back and the call is completely different from LD. Spotted Dove perched on the wire         Unluckily, Laughing Doves are mostly bullied by birds little larger than its size like Parrots, Co...

During the construction days of my house, the construction workers and the layout watchman used to boast about peafowls coming out to the layout or gardens in early mornings or at late evenings. They were stunned by the colorful beauties as they forage the layout. That was when the passion for birding and bird watching developed in me. Immediately, I purchased a binocular and 2 books about birds.   From the sources, I came to know the existence of peafowls on our land. There is a TVS Motor Plant 1.5 km from our layout that are rearing peafowls for 4- 5 decades. Some of the peafowls had escaped from the place and spread out to breed elsewhere. Hence, we are lucky to have peafowls around our place. This is our Pride. This is the only township (not well developed) in this locality where peafowls visit freely. Prior to our house construction, the old watchman of the layout narrated that about 70 peafowls used to visit our site which included some 100 plants including flower...

They are most commonly seen as parakeets in many places in India, especially in a few crowded cities in South India. I have seen them flying high in groups squawking loudly from tall trees to some yonder. I have not seen them in close or on the ground level until I moved to this area. For the initial 2 years, I had spotted them on some trees relishing some mangoes or berries in our backyard, especially in summer. It was only after they discovered the cereal grains tray in our garden, that they stopped by quite often. In the beginning, they used to panic at any sound of the door or window opening or if any of us enter the garden. They immediately squawk and fly off after spotting us. Slowly, one by one came down to the garden to feed on the grains which are also shared with other birds.  Initiall...

  The most common of Robins is the Indian Robin - A small black (male) or brown(female) bird with its tail long tail oscillating up and down. I first noticed them during the construction of our house. They were keen to make their nest in and around our building and have less fear of humans. I found their call amusing. My mother said it sounds like tie-che  and they often perch on the grill of our windows. Hence, we have nicknamed them as tie-che. Indian Robin (female) in the backyard. Indian Robin (Male) Due to their fearless nature of humans, they roost either on our grill covered porch or on our terrace during dusk. We can hear them come into our porch as they call out for other family members too. During the daybreak, they wake up with a call and follow their daily routine. I discovered their nesting area on the terrace which is between 6 Vertical water pipes running towards the overhead tank on 3 rd floor. This nesting area is also shared by Munias in a different season. ...

Sunbirds - These are the first species I encountered after I shifted to this place amongst the woods. These are index finger-sized birds with curved beak. The 3 species who visited our backyard are the  Purple sunbirds, Purple Rumped sunbirds,  and occasionally, mostly around wintertime, I sighted  Loten’s Sunbird.    One day, I saw a couple of Purple rumped sunbirds peeping through the glass of a window. They seemed to be excited looking through the glass. Perhaps, examining their reflections in the glass. Also, in other cases, they were too excited to look at themselves into the side-view mirror of the parked car in our portico and chirp around breathlessly hitting the mirror with their beak hoping to greet its look-alike in the mirror. This went on for a few months and they finally lost interest in their reflections.   In almost all seasons, I see them in the widespread garden where their tiny w...

It is been 3 years since my family moved into our new build house in 2017. The house is situated in M.V Paradise Layout amidst the scattered wilderness and surrounded by a few villages coming under rural Mysore. After being in a bustling, raucous, and crowded  Bengaluru city for more than 3 decades, this place seems to appear still, mystic, and isolated except for the constant twittering and chirping of various birds around dawn, dusk, and most of the daytime. Obviously, I do not want to overlook the nocturnal birds who visit our premises at nightfall. After encountering several birds like crows, common mynas, rock pigeons, etc in the city, I was delighted to encounter the wild birds new to me living around the woods. Whilst living in Bengaluru,  I was not into birding nor was I too interested in Bird watching. Unquestionably, Mysore is known for 190 species of resident birds. In the beginning, most of their calls were unique and dissimilar from what I heard in ...