My Encounter with the Monsoon Birds

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Dark clouds over the woods

              



The monsoon in Mysore has been quite harsh in the past 2 years. Once a parched dry landscape in December was unrecognizable in the months of August. The heavy rainfall has made the land here overgrown with greenery, tall grass, and weeds all over the place. The overgrown weeds, grass, and greenery give shelter and protection to some creatures and birds.  Peafowls and other birds like Grey Francolin, Common Hoopoe, etc love to forge amongst the overgrown bushes and trees for various insects and reptiles. This is the season when even invertebrates and reptiles like snakes, and garden lizards move around to find shelter from storms and other predators.

 When thunder strikes the onset of a storm, Peafowls are the only species that get excited by the sound. Other creatures are terrified by it. Also, peafowls can detect the sound before the sound reaches the human ears. By the time we come to hear the sound, Peafowls are already responding to it with great excitement.



                       


Previously, I was confused with the calls of White-throated Kingfisher and the Black Rumped Flameback. Both their calls were quite similar. The Black Rumped Flameback ones are shriller and faster.  Kingfishers used to dive into an open sump filled with rainwater to snatch some tadpoles or frogs. Sometimes they are seen with lizard prey in our backyard. Their calls are heard more often in the mornings.

 Once during the wee hours, aftermath, of the night rains, I happened to see cute and fluffy small brown shaded birds of 8-9 come down from the fence into the garden. They were picking up seeds from the ground and hastily following the leader in a queue. They seem to be fully aware of the positioning of trees, plants, and fallen seeds in our garden. Perhaps the species are Rock Bush Quails or Rain Quails. After they reached the other side of the backyard. They climbed onto a tree and sprung onto the fence. I have seen them once only. I am hoping to see them in the next monsoon or so. Unfortunately, could not study them properly. As time passed, I came to know the species was Rock Bush Quails


                          
Baya Weaver's colony in our backyard.


The Monsoon season is also an entry to another species, Baya Weaver. The small yellow and black bird resembles a bit like a sparrow. Their unique skills in nest-making fascinate humans. Of course, they are also called the Best Nature Architects or Engineers in the world. Unlike other birds, they weave a strong dangling nest almost like a house having 1-2 rooms, which is quite spacious with an opening at one point. They take about 3 weeks to build this. They breed there for about 2 months till the fledgling leaves the place. Most of the time, despite the harsh weather changes, the nests stay intact and can be used by other birds in different seasons.


Birding is a vast subject. There are birds that I have not encountered yet. Most of the time, I have encountered the ones which are close to my house. Our layout is a mini–Bird Sanctuary, which is a habitat for many residential and some migratory  Birds. There are also some migratory birds who also come to this layout to make their temporary homes. Moreover, I would like to broaden my experience and birdwatching as I feel I can encounter many more species that I have not encountered yet.

Meenakshi Thopse is a Blogger/writer, working presently in the field of Digital marketing. She started the "Best Courses In Digital World" FB page & Blog to promote Data Science & Digital Marketing online courses to budding job seekers to build the required skills for their careers. Also, she launched Sri Raksha Online shopping Blog to Guide people to buy appropriate products (Daily Essentials) She had worked as an Accountant and as a Manager for more than 10 years.

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