46 - Sparky’s ‘Tale of 2 Birds’ World

Hello, Sparky here.

 

An opportunist, an imposter.

bidding time till things get better.

A sweet-talker

but could be a raptor.

Keep a watch,

you never know what they are after.  

 

Now, tell me honestly, who did you think I was talking of, humans?

 

This past week has been notable for a couple of events. One was the arrival of two birds which for a couple of days had small mammals the like of me running for cover whenever they flew by till we realised they were imposters and not in the least bit interested in the likes of me.

 

The birds I am talking of are Common hawk-cuckoos. The cuckoo couple moved into our island this week. No invitations or advertisements are required, if there is a niche where one fits in, there will be such movement and we all make the necessary adjustments.

 

It did take us a couple of days to make this adjustment. For one, they very closely resemble a Shikra, who if you don’t know, is a raptor who would love nothing better than sinking his claws and beak into the likes of me.  Second, the male Common hawk-cuckoo has a call that will make even a person in deep slumber sit up and wonder who has caught the ‘brain-fever’. He goes on and on, calling his lady, I suppose, until he reaches a crescendo and then he begins all over again. But why he has to say ‘brain-fever’ I don’t know and since I will never get used to being comfortable in this raptor-mimic’s presence I will likely never find out. 

 

Hiding somewhere the male shouts out about someone’s brain fever giving me a head-ache and the female flying towards me makes my heart jump out and sends me scampering for cover. This harried state of affairs went on for a couple of days until I put the voice to the face. It also helped that I saw them gulp down hairy caterpillars with relish. So, at any rate my life is safe from them though can’t say the same of my noon siesta.

 

Why they moved to the island is also not a very great secret. It’s a strategic move. These birds, like their Indian Koel cousins are brood parasites, meaning the female just lays her eggs in the nest of other birds.

 

Mr. & Mrs. Drongo, if you remember had a hard time last year raising a koel baby as well as their children without any help from the koel mummy who happily absconded from the island. So, as they realised these birds were brood parasites, Mr. & Mrs. Drongo were on high alert but soon settled down when the word went around that these birds prefer babblers’ nest for their act of transgression. There is a large colony of babblers on another island adjacent to the Banyan Island and they were the target of these birds. Thugs I must say, why can’t they learn something from, say Baya Weavers?

 

Weaving a nest is all that the Baya Weavers do when the rains come. The male bayas are at it from dusk to dawn. Far from thinking of it as work, they think it’s a celebration. They sport a beautiful yellow attire for the season of nest-building.  It was probably this ‘hamerkopish’ relish for building nest that the monkey teens, Kiwi and Civvy saw and thought they could take advantage of.

 

Last week, these two monkeys had started collecting twigs and sticks, probably, as a first step as per the nest-building manual that they have received from the hamerkops in Kruger National Park, South Africa. They started collecting dry grass as well this week and when they had a big enough bunch of dry grass they went over to the baya weavers and made them an offer.

 

‘We have a big bunch of dry grass and we can collect more of it. If you all can help us with our nest building you can have that grass.’

‘Are you two at it again, monkeys?’ 

I am surprised the weavers even paused to converse with them but they did. Each one paused for a moment, almost in mid-flight and gave a reason each as to why their offer was moot.  

One said, ‘We have all the grass we need around us.’

Another added, ‘We don’t have any spare time to build a nest for you.’

A third said, ‘Even if we agree, can you imagine the size of the nest required?’

That had probably never occurred to them.

One more built on that thought. ‘If that hanging nest were to snap with you in it, you will fall to the ground.’

Someone else added, not unkindly, ‘and your tails won’t help you take flight mid-fall.’

 

That said the bayas continued with their nest building and the monkeys returned to the Banyan tree to chew on what had been said about their lack of ability to take flight. I wonder if they will next begin working on ‘how to fly’.

       __________________________

 

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