Red Breasted Flycatcher

An uncommon call made me rush to the window. Had to play a bit of hide and seek to finally find what this winter had brought to the garden.


The heap of dead branches we had piled up in a corner seemed to be his favorite place to hang out.

It was a male red breasted fly catcher.

He was frisky at first but I was able to take a photo from the window on the second day.

We were just about getting used to his calls from his favorite corner of the garden ,when he decided it was time to move on.. He stayed with us for 4 -5 days.

Hoping he stops by every year.

The tiny visitor

Got up a little early this Saturday due to what seemed like an alarm going off. But the alarm is generally switched off on Saturdays and the sound seemed to be coming from some place high up near the ceiling.

Then a gentle fluttering sound got me sitting up in bed to ensure that our pet cat was not around.
The little fluttering something, still making the ‘alarming’ sounds finally settled down on the curtain rod and turned out to be a tailor bird chick just out of the nest.

On seeing me waddling sleepily towards it , camera in one hand , the chick first flew straight up to the ceiling fan and hung there bat like for some time. It then made a dash to a dark corner just out of reach.

The chick was constantly making the peeping sounds and these increased in volume as I tried to hold it. The increased intensity of the chick’s calls got one of its parents to the window sill. The adult bird too was calling continuously and may be its call calmed the chick a bit. I too changed my tactics and instead of trying to hold the chick, offered it my hand to perch on.

To my relief and surprise the chick readily accepted this invitation. It sat on my finger comfortably, posed for a few snaps and even stopped shouting! I walked it to the window sill and to its waiting parent and they both flew off to the branches of the champak tree.

Fruiting Champaca

We have a Champa tree (Michelia champaca) in our garden, and our neighbour's champa is as good as our own. Then there is a dwarf champa in a huge planter that we have.
All the three were in full bloom till last month filling the air with the heady perfume.

The vital difference between the grafted dwarf and the seed grown giants is that the seed grown trees produce fruits!

By August, the fruits , which are produced in huge quantities and in clusters, start to crack, revealing the coral coloured seeds.

The bulbuls, mynas , crows and squirrels all love the seeds . The local koel population too has suddenly shot up. Even the carnivores, whiteeyes, tailors, ashy prenias and the fantail flycatchers love to hunt insects in the mazes created by the fruit bunches.

A lot of seeds fall down and are never eaten by the birds and squirrels. I am keeping an eye on some of the fallen pods to see how the garden and it's wildlife puts them to good use.

How green is my window

We got new plants today! One of them is the passion flower. Our old garden had two of these lovely creepers. We had not planted them for the flowers but for the butterflies they attract.

The passion flower plants are hosts to the Tawny Coaster butterflies. Medium sized, brick coloured slow flying beauties.

To our pleasant surprise ,the plant we selected was already "infected" by the caterpillars and we enjoyed convincing the lady at the nursery to let them be.

Telamonia dimidiata

A new resident on our champa tree.

While searching for the spiders identity on the internet, I stumbled upon one more interesting thing about this particular spider species.

Telamonia dimidiata was a victim of an Email Hoax!

A chain letter type email was widely circulated saying that these spiders have entered the US and are causing deaths in humans!

The spiders were supposed to be partial to dark corners of toilet seats , from where they launched attacks on their unsuspecting victims .

These are very common jumping spiders who weave nests among leaves .
They are completely harmless...

Nesting Whiteeyes

The pair of whiteeys which regularly visit out bird bath were acting funny for the past week.
After a long search they seem to have found a suitable place to build a nest.
Unfortunately it's not in my garden but in our neighboring garden. The birds have selected a leafy neem tree and the nest is about 20 -25 feet above ground. I don't have a clear view of the nest as the branch is quite leafy.But from the glimpses that I get of it, the basic structure seems to be ready. The birds seem to be lining it now. Saw one of the whiteeyes with a white fluffy something in its beak .

Watching the nest is going to be good fun for the next month or so...

The dissection of the bulbul nest is still pending.

What is a bulbul's nest made of?

I had to chop off one of the Ashoka trees some days back. The winds and the rains broke the trunk and the whole tree fell over our neighbors flower pots. An Abandoned bulbul's nest was also found. It is not exactly a very interesting sight , but I thought it would be interesting to take it apart and do a 'forensic analysis' of it. what type of twigs are used, how many are used. etc..