6 - Sparky's 'chitter-chatter' World

Hello, Sparky here.

  This week has been all about highs and lows. Hot days, thunderstorm evenings and cool nights; mango feast days, hide from thunderstorm evenings and stomach pain nights; soothing dawn chorus beginnings, barbet, koels and hawk-cuckoo calls of day time and endless lapwing alarm calls through the nights. So, if you get the drift, overall there’s a lot of activity, lots of food and a few irritants.

   Needless to say, spring is gone. Summer’s here and so are the mangoes. Birds, insects and animals alike have been paying regular visits to the mango tree. There are a couple of Snakes who live in the ant-hill near the mango tree, they sometimes like to pay us a visit while we are there, so we all strictly go there only for our meals and are back before we become a meal ourselves. Even on the short visits we make, we all seem to be stuffing ourselves up because quite a lot of us, especially the teenagers have been complaining of stomach ache-the kind which comes from over eating. Teenage is the time to learn a lot of new things, including the benefits of moderation.

  Speaking of moderation, I wonder why the Barbets don’t practice it. In summers, especially in the mornings, the male bird says kutroo, kutroo and the lady replies kutroo, kutroo to which the male says kutroo, kutroo and it goes on and on and on. Many of us are glad we don’t understand barbet-tongue. And there are many pairs on the island, so the island reverberates with the sound of their calls. If you think writing would be difficult amidst all the kutroos, I will say, forget writing, even thinking is difficult. Thankfully, the mangoes are so tasty, there’s no need to think, so we all just focus on the mangoes. Then when we return home with our bellies full, in need of a siesta in the hot afternoons, a barbet somewhere says ‘wut’, just one ‘wut’, many of us wake up, then fall asleep again and somewhere else another barbet says ‘wut’. Why cannot they finish the conversation in one go?

   Then there’s Madam Asian Koel, you are of course familiar with her. Madame Koel, having laid her eggs in the nest of Mr. & Mrs. Drongo, is without a care in the world, especially now that there are plenty of mangoes for her to bite into. You all know how beautifully the male Koel sings, it sooths the heart but madam’s calls will make your heart stop. Imagine this, you are eating mangoes, relishing every bite and peck and all of a sudden from somewhere near you, there comes a loud kik-kik-kik-kik-kik….a call like that should only be someone’s ‘Danger, run’ call but madam just breaks into her kik-kik-kik-kik for no apparent reason. The danger for the rest of us is we could fall out of the perch to the ground below where probably a snake is waiting for his meal.             

    There’s also Mr. Common Hawk-Cuckoo. Through the day, starting before dawn and well after dusk, he can go on saying, ‘brain fever’ ‘brain fever’, ‘brain fever’, and rest a bit and start all over again. These birds have fashioned themselves on Shikra, so every time they fly past, many of us, squirrels and smaller birds raise an alarm. With their resemblance to a bird of prey and calls of ‘brain fever’, they can give anyone a fever. They are not called ‘brainfever bird’ for nothing.

  Well, many of you may complain that we squirrels also have annoying alarm calls, well, that’s what an alarm call is supposed to do, grab attention. From our strategic view points on the trees, we do a favour to a lot of animals, especially the ground dwelling ones by calling out when there’s danger around. But the loud ‘did-he-do-it’, ‘did-he-do-it’, ‘did-he-do-it’ alarm calls of Red-Wattled Lapwings at regular intervals in the night wake many of us and keep us awake making us wonder what the ground dwelling lapwing has spotted.

  

   In short, there’s a lot of bird chatter at the moment. Many birds start singing an hour to half hour before sun rise till about half an hour after sunrise, after which they get busy with finding and eating food. This early morning ritual of birds calling is called ‘dawn chorus’. Birds call and sing for a variety of reasons: to find their partner, to mark and defend their territory, as an alarm call to announce danger, even simply for the joy of it. It’s a beautiful time of the day, when the sun is about to rise, the day is about to begin, there’s promise of warmth from the sun after a cold night, there’s prospect of finding and eating food after a good night’s rest, joy of welcoming and living another day – so the birds give the day and the rising sun a grand welcome, each in its own way.

  Dawn Chorus’ is so beautiful that there is an ‘International Dawn Chorus Day’ celebrated each year on the first Sunday of May. Humans organize many birding trips on that day to listen to the birds at dawn. We always have a few humans on that day who come over to Banyan Island. Some humans are really interested in nature and when they keep their distance and watch us, we don’t get disturbed and we watch them too.                

Remember Mr. Oriental Honey Buzzard who came to Banyan Island last week and caused so many of us so much trouble, well, some of  the bees in the hive thought it best to move to another location just in case the buzzard returns. So, yesterday the bees that were going away, started flying out, thousands of them, all at a time. It was a while before many of us realised it wasn’t a dark cloud but a swarm of bees on the move. They must have planned it since that day, as it takes time to raise another queen bee from a chosen larva (they do this by feeding her a special diet) to take over the old hive and for the old queen to lose a bit of weight (they do this by feeding her a little less) to be able to fly to the new location. Mostly bees move like this when the hive size becomes too big. Bees are so well co-ordinated, it’s like they are one creature, not a thousand different individuals.  

That’s all the chatter for this week. Here are some activities to keep you busy for a while.

• Solve the riddles one by one and get a word that solves another riddle.

	I am a grass, grown in paddy fields that are slushy,  Cook me with spices or eat me as a porridge that’s mushy.
	I live in a colony, a queen rules over me, We work together as one creature, but I am not a Bee.
	When the weather gets hot, everyone eats me with relish, Best to be quick, while still frozen, am delish.
	I come between sunset and sunrise, Spend me well, and arise, rested and wise.
	Pride goes before a fall, Hare lost the race, but before that, he did this to all.
	If you have me, you have a view on something. Read the experts, fine tune your understanding, And that will be the right thing.
	Of all creatures, both of water and land, Am most big and most grand.
	The final riddle – first letter of the answers above will also solve this riddle below:
	When it has rained and then there’s sunlight, Be sure to look for me, am not an everyday sight.

•   Here’s an analytical reasoning exercise for you: Read the below scene and answer the questions based on it.   

 The sky is orange with tinges of yellow and red. The fluffy white of the clouds are lined with red, as if a child has taken a red coloured pencil and traced the outline. The birds and animals are finding their spot on the mango tree. Many birds are jostling with one another for space. Amidst the euphony of chatter of various birds, the murmur of the water can be heard, like someone is telling a story but no one is really listening.

1. A male Indian golden oriole, dressed in dazzling colours is conversing with a Black Drongo. Orioles build their nests near the drongos’ nests as the latter are very good at driving away predators.   

2. The many Rose-Ringed Parakeets perched near a bunch of raw mangoes look like raw mangoes themselves but then these mangoes are a noisy bunch, they are sharing the day’s stories with each other. 

3. The male Baya Weavers are wearing newly bought lemon coloured helmets as they weave their long nests on the branches hanging over the river.

4. A male Asian Koel opens his mouth and a melodious tune ensues instead of a caw one would expect from someone who resembles the one who caws. The male Koels are giving a concert and the entire Banyan Island residents are tuned in.

5. The tiny Oriental White-eyes and Purple-Rumped Sunbirds are buzzing around the yellow-flame tree looking like the flowers themselves.

Questions:

1.    What time of the day is it?

2.    What season is it?

3.  Describe the scene and where is it taking place?

4.    How many birds are there in the scene?

5.  How many yellow coloured birds are in the  scene?

6.    Who does a male Asian Koel look like?

7.   What are the various noises described in the  scene?

8.   How many trees have been mentioned in the scene?

• A Mathematical Puzzle – Use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division between numbers below to get the answer given. I have solved the first one to show how it’s to be done:

• Here are a few of my animal friends, can you identify them?

• Solve the Crossword puzzle below. All the questions are related to ‘time’. (The black square in the puzzle is a space)

•  Here are various sounds that Birds make. Match the sounds with their meaning:

Sing	The deep sound made by an owl
Shriek	When birds chirp, making short, high sounds
Caw	The sound that ducks make
Cock-a-doodle-do	Musical sound by birds
Squawk	The sound that a rooster makes
Tweet / Twitter	The short, low sound that a hen makes
Hoot	The sound made by a crow
Cluck	A very loud, piercing sound made by a bird
Quack	Loud unpleasant noise

See you all next week with more news, activities and answers to this week’s puzzles.

You can access a PDF version of the Magazine at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ytiwf3a9WU2QeCYzk3j3oPOhy2kiLS5u/view?usp=sharing

In the meanwhile, if you would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com

Answers to last week’s puzzles:

• If you put together the first letter from all the answers it will give you a word which is what I think of the Honey Buzzard

Nosy	Someone who shows too much curiosity about other people’s life is ____? The word rhymes with Cozy.
Intruder	Someone who comes uninvited is an________?  A trespasser is also called this.
Nasty	An Unpleasant person is a _______ person? Also used for smells and such. Weird, but the word rhymes with Tasty!!!
Cruel	Someone who’s not kind is________?
Obtuse	Someone who’s dull, unintelligent is called an ________person? Also means an angle that’s greater than 90 degrees.
Mean	Someone who’s unkind and unfair is a ________ person? An average of numbers is also called this.
Pea-brain	Someone who’s stupid is called this. Someone whose brain size is as small as a pea.
Obnoxious	Someone who’s annoying and offensive is an _______ person? This word is used to describe bad smell as well.
Odd	Someone is different and peculiar is an _____person? 1,3,5,7 are also called this.
Pirate	A person who robs people on the sea is called a ________?

So, the word is NINCOMPOOP. A nincompoop is a stupid, foolish or silly person.

•   Idiom Quiz

Idiom	Meaning
Copy cat	Someone who imitates someone else
Cat’s got your tongue	Said of someone who suddenly goes quiet
Let the cat out of the bag	Reveal a secret
Raining cats and dogs	Raining heavily
Get the lion’s share	Get the biggest share of something
Fishy	Suspicious
Hold your horses	Wait, be patient
Take a bull by the horns	Face a task/challenge boldly
Rat race	Very competitive
Ant’s in one’s pants	Unable to be calm or stay quiet out of nervousness or excitement

•         Choose the right ‘Homphones’ and fill in the blanks to make the story complete.

This is the tale of Bucky, the bee who stole and ate eight pots of nectar from the Bee hive store house. When the chief guard discovered the theft he informed the Queen Mother who made all her bee babies stand in a row near the hole in the tree, close to their hive.

Queen Mother then said, ‘My children, it takes a 1000 trips to flowers to collect nectar to fill 1 pot. So, it should be plain to everyone who can see that it’s 8000 trips that have been stolen. Is it fair my dear ones, that all of us toil in the sun and one gets to enjoy it all? I shall know no peace till the thief is caught. I need the thief caught in one hour’ Saying that she blew a kiss to them and flew away from the scene.

As the chief guard walked around, his nose picked up the scent of the nectar from Bucky. He wanted to teach Bucky a lesson for the pain he had caused all of them so he told them that one of the pots of nectar was a magical potion and the one who had had a bite from that pot would be able to swim. He then dismissed the gathering. Bucky was curious to check if that was true and flew down to where the river was flowing. As Bucky stepped into the water, he begin to sink, the guard reached there to hear Bucky groan and struggle in vain to get out of water. The guard pulled Bucky out of water and took him to the Queen Mother who rapped him on his nose and fined him his pocket money for 3 months and allowed him to go.

Bucky was grateful to Queen Mother and the chief guard for not telling the others and also to his friends who helped him when he had no money by sharing with him the ice-creams they would buy. Bucky never tried to steal again. He never lost sight of what’s right.

• Arrange the pictures of Butterfly’s Life cycle in the correct order?

• Now for a Mathematical puzzle. Understand how the first 2 squares have been solved and apply the same logic to the other squares and fill the answers in the center of the squares.