about birds...

AVIANS OF AGRA

Smrithi Poornachandra

The phone rings and I pick it up a bit reluctantly. I know it’s my husband calling to ask me if I have packed and am ready to leave to join him at Agra. I live in the hills with its verdant green forests and crystal clear cold mountain streams. I do not look forward to going to the hot and dusty, and not to mention dirty, plains of Central India. “What do you want me to get for you?” my husband asks. He is cajoling me into thinking it’s not as bad as I imagine it to be. “I don’t know”, I snap irritably, “Camels and peacocks, ivory and apes.” He laughs, “I don’t know about the ivory but the other three, you will see in plenty around these parts.” He was right. I have seen camels striding along the lanes of Agra and apes scrambling on the rooftops. Best of all, I have seen beautiful peacocks wander around the undergrowth and in the gardens. For someone who has seen these magnificent birds only in a zoo, it is quite something to see them wander around freely

It has been a few months since I have been in Agra, and I have visited the famous Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. But when asked what I like the best about this place, it is the plethora of bird life here. For an avid bird watcher like me, it is wonderful to be able to spot Tree Pies and Babblers from the comfort of my room. It was only the other morning that I spotted a pair of Turtle Doves, a pair of Drongos, a Flame-back Woodpecker and a pair of Parakeets, all on the same tree in my backyard!

The Agra cantonment is home to many of these feathered beauties. Many cantonments all over the country offer an oasis for these harassed and beleaguered little creatures. It is within cantonments that trees are looked after, and the tiny amount of wild life in the form of birds and squirrels are safe from being hunted or killed. Even an amateur can enjoy the simple pleasures of bird watching without having to plan and visit a sanctuary.

Bird watching is becoming quite a popular hobby with those interested in the outdoors. More and more bird books hit the stands every year and the papers report something about bird watching and birds almost every day. To get started in this rewarding hobby all one needs is to just pay a little more attention to the life around them, just look around and maybe get a pair of binoculars There are many birds in Agra cantonment that are commonly seen and hard to miss around the place.

The most common birds here are the bold Jungle Babblers, greyish brown in colour with yellow eyes and feet. They hang around in groups of fives or sevens and more. They are sometimes called the Seven Sisters for their tendency to perch at one place and have a loud and animated conversation, not unlike a group of excited girls! Another hard one to miss would be the bright Indian Peafowl seen crossing small paths and walking around the undergrowth. Their harsh cries join in the early morning symphony of the other gifted songsters. It does seem a pity though, that they are hunted for their meat and their feathers hawked as fans in Sadar Bazar. One can only hope for severe wild life protection laws to save them.

The Black-rumped Flame-back Woodpecker is another interesting bird that can be easily spotted from afar as he goes about his business of busily checking the barks of trees for food. He can be identified by the flaming orange crown that resembles a rather comical wind swept hairdo. With his black head and crest, the Red Vented Bulbul, with a red vent and a white rump, is a dark brown bird busily looking around for any fruit trees he can visit. They are delightful to watch and not hard to spot as they flit from small hedges and trees.

One also sees flocks of Rose-ringed Parakeet or Parrots as we call them, sweeping across the sky at various times of the day, chattering incessantly. They seem perfectly able to hold a conversation even in flight. It is sad for these sociable little birds to be locked up all alone in a cage, with no one to talk to but us humans, who somehow take great pleasure in hearing them echo a silly word or phrase over and over again. Another great conversationalist would be the Mynah. They are a common enough sight with their brown feathers and yellow beak, eyes and feet. Their look-alikes are the Brahminy Starlings, with yellow feet, beak and eyes, but the similarity ends there. They have a black crest and rufous orange sides of the head and under parts. It is amazing to watch Mynahs and their displays of aggression towards any their feathered friends who have been unlucky enough to incur their wrath. Their cousin, the Asian Pied Starling looks like a Mynah with a black-and-white coat. Should you see a Crow with brown wings, lucky you! You’ve just spotted a Crow Pheasant or a Coucal.

The Asian Koel, a greenish black bird (he looks black from afar) with red eyes a green bill is interesting to look out for. Though the male is black the female is spotted and barred with white, and looks like another species altogether. The Rufous Tree Pie has a slate grey or brown hood, buffish under parts, pale grey wing panel and a long tail with a whitish tail band. To make it simpler, one could just remember it as a brown bird with a very long tail. It can be seen in gardens with trees and bushes.

There are various kinds of doves that have their nesting grounds around the cantonment -the Laughing Dove with spots only on its chest, the Collared Dove with a black marking on its neck like a collar, the pale grey Oriental Turtle Dove and the Spotted Dove, who as the name implies, has spotted sides and neck. It is a peaceful feeling to wake up to their gentle cooing in the morning as they welcome the new day, and it isn’t hard then to understand why the dove is a symbol of peace.

On the other hand, there are the bold and inquisitive Black Drongos with their forked tails who displayed great interest in my valiant efforts at the garrison swimming pool. A cheeky one even skims gracefully just above the water surface as if to show the tired and ungraceful human how it is supposed to be done. If that were not enough, the Changeable Hawk-Eagle soars, sweeps and glides in the Agra skies to demonstrate the nuances of flying to the Airborne Warriors. I remember seeing one of them lazily circling around an earth bound skydiver’s parachute at the Malpura Drop Zone, as if to urge this strange looking bird up in the air again. Look around in the open fields, and with a brilliant turquoise flash one is treated to the unforgettable sight of the blue wing-tipped Indian Roller. Though rufous brown in the nape and under parts, it has a greenish mantle and turquoise and dark blue wings and tail. They are easily seen as that unmistakable flash of blue among the trees.

The Jeet Singh Stadium is active in the morning, with soldiers doing their PT and hockey players fighting for a match. Yours truly was trying to learn to ride as gracefully as the riding instructor, who didn’t seem impressed at all by my repeated impression of a thrown rodeo star. Once, the horse cantered away having finished laughing at me and the field seemed to have stopped spinning around. I took a look around, and the world was magically transformed as I spotted a flock of Common Ringed Plovers feeding among the small pools of water. They can be identified by their orange legs and bills, and have prominent black markings on their face and neck, with a dull brown feathers and white under parts. These birds frequent mud banks, and are seen in large numbers in the stadium after the rains, along with white Egrets, Storks, Rails, Spoonbills, Lapwings and an odd Purple Heron.

A few six weeks ago our kitchen garden was “flooded” because of a leak in the water pipeline. Annoyance turned to delight when a Kingfisher visited the garden and decided to stay for a while. The leak has long been fixed, but I cannot help keep flooding the kitchen garden often, because the Kingfisher returns to keep visiting us and has even brought along a friend! As I sit in the patio editing this article, a plump black and white Oriental Magpie Robin is peering down anxiously at the Tawny Eagle perched on my chair. I found the eagle at the Jeet Singh stadium, with a broken wing and a damaged and festering eye. I got him home and tended to him. He is well on his way to recovery and is content if he gets his chicken (twice a day), and three hot-water bottles (changed twice) during the cold winter nights. During the day he just perches on my chair and sleeps, waking up once in a while to glare at me with his good eye when I move the chair into the sun.

Barbets and Bee-eaters, Cuckoos and Coucals, Drongos and Doves, Eagles and Egrets, Flame-backs and Flower-peckers, Hornbills and Hoopoes, Minivets and Munias, Orioles and Owls, Nightjars and Nightingales, Quails and Rails, Wagtails and Warblers… and the list is a long, long one. Look around and enjoy. While in Agra cantonment, watch out for Airborne activity of the Avians, and you won’t need to go to Bharatpur.

© 2007