Skippy

This post goes to the one I am completely in love with. Tiny and fluffy, though this bundle of feathers, is not difficult to spot, it is extremely difficult to observe. Easily located by its chirrup chirrup, it is hard to locate in the leaves not only because of its size, which ranges from 10-14 cms or 3-5 in (which means smaller than a sparrow, if you are like me and these numbers don't mean anything to you), but also because of its habit of constantly moving about. Hence, the name Skippy given to it by me. Known as a very restless bird, it is often said that this bird is more heard than seen. Though I think, if you keep on trying, you will see it. :)

Like I said, it's a chotu sa bird. With a puffed out white/grey chest and reddish tint(rufous colour) on its head. Its wings are green and brown in colour, which provide it a perfect camouflage in the tress. Its prominent feature is its long green tail, which it keeps on moving. The tail is sort of alert all the time, which looks pretty cute on the little round bird. Oh, did I mention it is one of those round, plump little birds? No wonder one of my favourite huh?! :D

Image courtesy: Nimish Kane (nagpurbirds.org)

So if you haven't been able to guess by now, I'm talking about a tailorbird. COMMON TAILORBIRD to be exact. It gets its name because of its nesting habits, where it actually SEWS the leaves of a tree with a plant fibre or spider's web or something like that. Cool huh?! In Hindi, it is called Darzi, no surprise there I guess! And if like me, you are a fan of Rudyard Kipling, then you might be able to remember this heroic bird from the book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, where the couple helps the mongoose fight a snake.

Though it is a piece of fiction and tailorbirds won't feign to distract the snake as in the story, I still believe that these birds are pretty bold. With their loud calls and skipping on the ground, looking for insects, they hardly seem worried about their predators. Usually seen in a pair, tailorbirds can be found easily in urban gardens. All you have to do is follow the sound of their voice, my friends! And there you'll be able to see two tiny things skipping from one place to the other.

Happy Spotting! 

Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

Let me begin with how much I hate pigeons. Oh wait, let that be a story for some other day. 

Let me try this again. I hate pigeons. But this particular pigeon that I see every morning and evening (sometimes even afternoons) in front of my house has to be the cutest. Unlike its bold and loud and having-sex-all-the-time grey coloured cousins, this cutie is pretty shy. You'll always see it in the midst of the trees trying to hide itself in the leaves that match its own colour. Oh yes, this one is a green coloured pigeon! With a little grey in between. Unlike the grey pigeons (rock pigeons as they are called), who can be seen everywhere (EVERYWHERE!!!), these ones prefer the shelter of trees, flying away at the barest movement.

The other day, when I mentioned that how some birds were more shy than the others, my research guy told me that it's because of the colour of the bird. The brighter the colour, the more chances of it being seen by its predator and thus, the bird is more concerned about its safety. This got me thinking about the grey pigeons. Are they so boisterous because of the buildings in our area (that are also grey coloured) which makes them think that they can camouflage themselves? I don't know.. I would really love it if they also flew away at the slightest movement of humans.

Anyway, coming back to the cuter of the two pigeons, this bird seems to be a bit smaller than the rock pigeon (not too much though and by its shape you'll be easily able to recognise it as a pigeon). Its head and belly are grey coloured, but the neck and the wings are a nice bright shade of green. Its tail is also grey. The name it gets is because of the colour of the body as well as its feet (or legs) which are a bright yellow. Hence, no surprise here, it's called Yellow Footed (Legged) Green Pigeon. Its beak is white and surely something to look at.

Image credits: orientalbirdimages.org

Apparently found very commonly in India, it can be a bit difficult to spot. But once you know how it looks you'll be able to see it much more often, mostly flying from one place to the other. It is the state bird of Maharashtra and called Hariyal in Marathi! Not so bad I think :D

Oh also, like rock pigeons, these also mate for life. And usually, you will spot a couple together. If you do spot a shy thing (or two shy things) peeping at you from behind some leaves, don't forget to look at their eyes. They are like two tiny red and blue beads. Absolutely delightful!

So go out and look at a happy green couple peeps. I promise you, they'll make your day!

I know the image isn't that great. I don't have a good camera. :/

Coppersmith Barbet

When I least expect to see one, I find a different bird right outside my balcony. I just went to get some fresh air out there when I saw this tiny little bird going in and out of the hollow wooden poles being used for construction in the next building. I dashed to my room for my binoculars, praying that the bird stays there (my previous experience told me that it was a wrong move and I shouldn't let the bird out of my sight - after all seeing it from a distance was surely better than not seeing it at all, right?) But as I dashed back to the balcony, cursing myself for not always keeping the bines with me, I saw that the little bird was still playing ghar ghar with the poles.

On looking closely, I saw that it was green, a little dull, dark green with grey coloured underbelly.The things that were most prominent for me were the red coloured throat and the colour yellow around its eyes (I confused it for yellow eyes but as I was very politely corrected later, it isn't called yellow eyes, it's called a yellow patch around the eyes!).

Anyway, it wasn't a very restful bird, kept on moving around a lot, so I didn't get a very good look at it. All I knew was that it wasn't a very plump bird, kind of slender, a longish beak and dull colours. No offense to it or any other barbet lover out there, but it didn't look very pretty to me. And yeah, a lot of people (even those who are managing this blog) tend to disagree with me and find these birds beautiful, but I happen to think otherwise.

So on research, which proved to be a little difficult for my go-to-guy [Well i don't blame him exactly - I describe birds like this: "It was a dull green, tiny, tinier than a sparrow (which turned out to be wrong by the way) and not very pretty. And oooh, yellow eyes" - for not being able to search for it in the first go], but we did it. It turned out to be...

A BARBET!!

Image courtesy: Wikipedia

A COPPERSMITH or CRIMSON-BREASTED BARBET! Talk about fancy names and stuff haan?!

So apparently it makes sounds like metal (well not the metal music we like), but like a metal being hit! Tuk-tuk-tuk, yeah something like that. And for the same reason, it is also called Tuktukiya. :P

Other common Hindi names include Basanta and Thathera (which apparently means a coppersmith). Yikes!

Found in plains, it is an arboreal bird (one that lives in trees) and is found in urban areas and gardens. But according to some websites, Coppersmith Barbet is a bird that is rather heard than seen. Guess who's the lucky one, eh?! :D

So go out and stand in the balcony folks. It might be your lucky day as well!

Gubachi (Sparrow)

I just got to know that it's the World Sparrow Day. And then there was this link that my friend posted on her wall. Made me really happy. Even though we hardly see the sparrow or the Indian House Sparrow anymore, according to that link, they are not disappearing. They are still here. And we can still do something before the cute little chirping birds that used to wake us up in the mornings when we were young, disappear completely.

The other day, the Mysore spotter exclaimed that he saw a sparrow after ages. That made me happy. First, because, well, it's a sparrow. Who does not get happy by thinking of a sparrow?! And secondly, I had been seeing sparrows everyday. And not just one or two either, but a host of them (Oh yeah, I googled this- a group of sparrows is called host. Or knot. Even a quarrel). So it made me a little happy that Delhi may not be that bad for sparrows after all.

Anyway, I read some pretty interesting things about this tiny creature. Apparently, though they usually eat grains (like pigeons), while breeding, they start eating insects (I guess they need more nourishment before the young ones arrive). Another very interesting fact that I came across was that they can swim. And not just in your birdbaths either (which as the name suggests, is for taking a bath, not a swim), but in proper water bodies. I don't know why it surprises me so. I mean they are pretty light... They'll float anyway. Also, did you know that the House Sparrow is the State Bird of Bihar and Delhi?! Noticing the need to conserve the status of the bird in the Capital, it was declared the State Bird on Aug 14 2012. Another big day for the little bird to celebrate in the capital! :)

Image courtesy: http://archive.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_images/tree-sparrow-by-dani-studler.jpg

So yeah, just in case you don't know what I am talking about, sparrow is one of the most common bird in the residential areas, therefore, also referred to as chidiya colloquially in Hindi speaking regions. Its Hindi name is Gauraiya and in Kannada it is called Gubachi. It is brown in colour, with a white belly. With a black beak and patterned feathers, this bird flies with a flutter. And pretty fast too.

Check out this link for more interesting details that made my day. 

http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/houses-for-sparrows/article7014753.ece/

Oh, before I go, an interesting fact about us: We wanted the name Gubachi for our blog, but sadly that was taken. So we dedicated it to another little bird, Skippy. More on that later!

Happy Gubachi Day People!

Introduction

This blog is for the one who skips a lot. And the one who doesn't. The one who is spotted. And the one who is pied. The one who is little, the one who cannot fly. The one who is bold. And the one who is shy. The one who stitches. And the one who weaves. The one who whispers. And the one who screams. This blog is for all the birds, tiny, huge, plump, slender, long beaked, short beaked, coloured or black-and-white who are spotted easily in Delhi. And in Mysore. The ones that have been hiding in your garden and you didn't even know about. This blog (coming from novices) describes the authors' elation of spotting an unusual bird, going on the internet (sometimes using the bird book) and finding out the name of the bird and jumping excitedly for the next half an hour on seeing the beauty of nature right in their backyard (Oh yes, they aren't talking about bird sanctuaries or wooded areas; they are actually talking about the residential areas, right in the middle of the populated cities of Delhi and Mysore). Don't be surprised! Birds do visit the residential areas to say hello every morning. And sometimes evening. All you have to do is go out and sit. One tiny thing will surely come and skip around you someday.