Birds of a feather

Throwing caution to the winds, several mynahs, squawking among themselves, often pick grasshoppers off the lawn unmindful of our gardener. In a spirit of amity, the mynahs, bulbuls and shrikes even enjoy a collective dip in the puddles that form when the lawn is watered. Shrieking discordantly, sometimes a kingfisher waits for a fish to surface in our pond. Then it swoops down unerringly and up again, its quivering meal clamped in its beak.

The crow pheasant’s booming call clearly unsettles the smaller birds — apparently, it’s a nest-raider. Soon I spot it stealing through the foliage of a jack tree, often with its mate. Adding a touch of excitement, occasionally a huge kite swoops low, seizes an unwary chicken and sails away — usually with the owner in hot but futile pursuit!

Sometimes two crimson-crested woodpeckers seem to vie with each other in drilling away rapidly into the stem of a nearby coconut palm. The persistent ‘tapping’ usually sabotages my siesta.

Most heartening, however, is the appearance of the elusive jungle fowl in our wooded compound. Daily, at dawn and dusk, I hear the cock raucously crowing his heart out. Sometimes I even spot him slinking away with two hens in tow.

That all these birds survive amidst an ongoing construction boom is truly a wonder.