My Encounter with the Robins

 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.

One day, during June of last year. The robin couple had 2 chicks, one male and one female. They fell out of the nest into the porch. The chicks resembled a fluffy ball of black(male) and dark brown(female) like the animated blissful character of Nippon paints advertisements. They were frightened by the sight of humans. The chicks had a chmuch chmuch call constantly making their presence known to everyone. We let them stay there since it was safe until the chicks learn to fly. As soon as we come out to the porch, we could see the mother and father Robin busy feeding invertebrates to each of the chicks tirelessly.  They were constantly feeding them from dawn to dusk tirelessly with a small break in the afternoons. Also, They were not shy to feed them in presence of humans since the Robin parents were assured that we don’t harm the chicks. On the first day, I saw the chicks start the flying lesson with the guidance of Father Robin in our garden. The tiny ones just glided on the ground still weak to fly high.

 

 Unfortunately, the female chick who was too shy died in an accident. The male chick was a bit depressed for a few days. We had the generator on our porch and used it occasionally due to electricity fluctuations. One day, the generator was turned on, we were worried that the chick may turn deaf due to the loud sound produced by it. But to our surprise, we saw it lying on the ground with wings spread out in front of the machine, where hot and black smoke arose. It appeared like a small and flattened coconut shell on the ground. It had been warming itself in front of the machine. As soon as we approached it, it disappeared into its hiding place behind two bins.

Few days later, we could see the chick now a fledgling learning to fly across the porch which is 60 feet in length. We could see it fly over the bonnet of our parked car to go across the other side of the porch. Only squirrels invade our porch. We were worried they may disturb the fledgling. But the squirrels were just curious about the fledgling,  each time they came, they took long glances at it and went on to play chase and catch around the porch.  That would have provided great entertainment for the bored and lonely fledgling. On the 14th day,  we didn’t hear chmuch chmuch constant call on our porch and understood the fledgling was out of the porch. 2 days later, I saw it fly under the guidance of strict father Robin and mother robin in the meadow opposite to our house. Some days later, I saw the fledgling practicing its flying lessons from one terrace to another terrace and in our garden with another female fledgling. We wondered how the female came into the picture. This female was not the dead sibling of the fledgling. A Mystery Girl! We were happy it has a companion.

One month had passed. The fledglings were almost good at flying. During evenings, we saw them in the garden after recognizing the chmuch chmuch call. An old granite slap of 2 feet was placed against the fence wall. The fledglings found it amusing and began to slide over the smoothness of the granite to the ground. They took turns to slide on it several times. Later, I found them playing swing, swaying their heads in delight while they perched on our clothesline in the backyard. I was very much amused by their talent. Of course, they were like small kids and behave like small kids.

Their chmuch chmuch calls went on for a few months till they attained the adult call tie-che and reached their adulthood. Even now, each time we call out to the male Robin, he stares at us and responds to us by twitching his long tail up and down as we talk out to him. Others are not so responsive as him. At present, the male and mystery female Robins are proud parents of 2 juvenile robins, one male, and a female robin. I guess they grew up in our abandoned neighbor’s house, which has become a safe shelter for some birds and other small mammals. We haven’t seen them grow up. But could hear the chmuch chmuch call whenever they are around our premises.

 

Oriental Magpie Robins too are popular as the Indian Robins. They dwell in the woods behind our house and sing their favorite tunes in the mornings on the trees to attract their mates They usually come out during the sunny days to bathe in the water bowl kept for birds in our backyard.