Parrots outside my windows

In Bandra parrots still squat outside the windows. That used to happen in my Kandivli house (very close to the National park:) till the building activity and traffic roar chased them away. But in Bandra despite the horns-from-hell, the parrots still come to the large sprawling mango tree outside my window. This tree is old, soothing to watch -- bees, tiny sunny sun birds, red-tipped bulbuls, bats  -- it is a home for a lot of life. Parrots love it too... The birds waited for that big mango to ripen patiently. it was hanging outside my window for several months  and I used to think it was spoilt. Seems not:) Here u can see the parrots feeding on it. A baby parrot -- its feather ruffled and messed, his head larger than his body yet -- also tentatively bites into it very often.

There is a huge clan of parrots here. They don't seem to mind being stared at. The guys who do the Sparrows Homes (u know,  they sell those Sparrow rests from which the birds can feed, the movement  was written about quite a bit in the media because the thought behind it was that sparrows which were relevant to the city'e ecosystem where being driven away by the larger scavengers and these Sparrow rests would allow them safe places to roost:) ( I myself  bought a sparrow rest for Rs 350 -- but no sparrow has not roosted there yet:(  well, they told me I should place red chillis outside the windows. But the parrots don't seem to want it.. why will they, when there are ripe mangoes to dig into.

I learnt something watching these parrots. Unlike pigeons which will flutter if u say boo even mentally, parrots never shriek or quake if there is a loud noise. They are truly brave! At the  construction site opposite, there used to be a huge bang each time the humongous  multi-storey column was pushed into the ground. But while pigeons squawked and ducked, the parrots will continue doing whatever they were doing, with nary a feather out of place, nor a flutter! Amazing. I want to be like that:)
But the parrots will be gone soon. The old building, in whose compound this tree grows, is now being pulled down. Another compact eco-system will be destroyed. And Mumbai will grow at the expense of its less fortunate inhabitants, as usual!

And even the building where I am living is going to be brought down. Will the mango tree survive all that work?

The animals in my backyard

The little bird has gone now. I was lucky enough to spot him and then click him before he flew away. For two days for a few minutes he would leave his nest to hang about in the sun. He actually entered the tiny netting in my computer room to sit and watch me type. Then he flew out and sat on the grill in the garden, sunning himself and allowing generously to be clicked despite my nervous fingers trying to zoom before he decided to disappear. I saw him early the next morning, his alert parents fluttering about. He was always alone in the nest and I am glad his parents thought he was safe in our balcony. But now that he is independent he can be at risk -- flying about adventurously into some larger bird's mouth -- a nice morsel or a dessert!! So now his parents have taken him to where they normally roost and I have his empty nest hanging in the balcony. The ravens have been curiously visiting it, hanging at my grill like some dark creatures... I like ravens -- they reek of intelligence and seem to be rather useful about this city. Where would we be without scavengers?

A large monarch butterfly has been fluttering about my lemon bush. It is not just the white flowers that seem to lure it but even the leaves. Perhaps it will also lay its eggs here? Who knows.. If you have seen monarch pupae, they are very exotic and colourful and then when the butterfly emerges, its wings still wet and sits under a soft morning sun to dry its wings, it can be a beautiful moment...So I will wait:)

Other bird visitors are the bulbul, examining my flowers and sparrows. The one you see has been worrying my foot mat in the garden, tearing some fluff from it for lining its nest.

We had decided, my husband and I, that once the birds leave the nest, we will put the pigeon netting -- to keep off the marauding pigeons which squat fatly on my plants, or shred them. And not mention the tonnes of crap I daily have to clean. So I wonder if the netting will keep off the other visitors or maybe the holes will be big enough to let them through. But will they trust and come in?

This fat little chick!

This plump little chick is now out of the nest. It fluttered through the grill to my computer room, through a hole one-inch in height... then while I worried about it rushing into my fan, as I shut the windows, he fluttered out through the one-inch hole happily...

Now he comes out of his dirt-bag nest occasionally and sits on my balcony grill, as his parents flutter about him. Does he not look so divine...
He cheeps loudly, is quite active and seems to be eating the whole time, if you watch his anxious parents carry food for him non-stop. Parenting can be so tough!

We did not put a pigeon protecting wire netting just so he won't be disturbed. Once he is gone, we will have to put up the wiring since the pigeons otherwise trash my flowering shrubs... Then such birds won't come. The other day, a bulbul was there, examining my pink flowers curiously... Even he won't come. Nor the rascally Mynah who plucks my palm leaves with a vicious venegeance...

Sun birds, actually, in my balcony

(The small pile of dirty looking leaves and twigs, a perfectly camflouged nest of the sunbirds, handing from a dried money plant vine in my balcony:)

My student Sabrina pointed out that the birds nesting in my tiny balcony are not tailor birds after all. They are sun birds. Possibly called that for the dash of pale yellow on their breasts. These ones are technically called Purple rumped sunbirds. The female, as with the animal species, is duller, greyish where the male has a dark, blackish attractive overcoat. The nest, over which the two birds have been fussing, has taken over a week now. And they are still at it. My husband made a video of their effort. It was done with his mobile, which explains the quality.(Click on the line, to watch it).

The other day I saw a sparrow, which looked large compared to these tiny fellows, peck harshly on the male seated on my tiny neem tree. The male sun bird was holding a fluffy feather in his curved beak, to line the nest. The sparrow kept pecking till the poor fellow had to drop it. Only then would the sparrow fly off. What wickedness, meaningless too:) Amazing how this world goes... And I remember singing as a child "It is Love, it is love, it is love that makes the world go around.." So innocent, so foolish, then. And now!

The dried Money plant vine is what the sunbirds had chosen, deliberately flimsy and frail so that other wicked ones of the animal kingdom, more keen on things other than the pecking order, could not climb over it. I can imagine snakes, crows loving to gobble up either those eggs or the nestlings. Let's see how it goes. As of now, the female makes foolish forays against my French windows, either imaging another rival female flapping into her, or seeing foliage where none is. So much like humans:)