My mom spent hours looking at and listening to birds...the occasional peacocks, the omnipresent crows, the greater coucals, wagtails, woodpeckers, cuckoos, treepies, parrots, bushchats, black hooded orioles, mynas, babblers, hummingbirds, sunbirds...
She could recognize the birds from their calls and claimed to know their moods. These free spirits gave her comfort and she felt great joy in their beauty.
My mom had formulated her own behavioral theories about them. She said that the greater coucals and the babblers had a pact...the babblers followed the coucals around as they hunted for food and feasted on the leftovers; at times, even demanding a share. And in return, the babblers acted as their security system, raising an alarm at any threat as the coucals are weak fliers.
According to mom, crows saved excess food by hiding them under dry leaves or other places but could never find these due to their poor memory.
...memories carry me further to a past when I enjoyed similar pleasures...I used to enjoy watching the kingfisher hunt, wrestle with, and kill its prey from our house that was right next to the paddy fields. It took 2 or 3 quick knocks on the branch of a tree to kill and de-shell a crab and then, the hurried and awkward gulping.
The hummingbirds, darting from flower to flower continuously flapping their wings, and the woodpeckers, incessantly knocking away on tree trunks, mocked my glorious purposelessness...
Ah...where are all the winged charmers, where is mom, where am I?
She could recognize the birds from their calls and claimed to know their moods. These free spirits gave her comfort and she felt great joy in their beauty.
My mom had formulated her own behavioral theories about them. She said that the greater coucals and the babblers had a pact...the babblers followed the coucals around as they hunted for food and feasted on the leftovers; at times, even demanding a share. And in return, the babblers acted as their security system, raising an alarm at any threat as the coucals are weak fliers.
According to mom, crows saved excess food by hiding them under dry leaves or other places but could never find these due to their poor memory.
...memories carry me further to a past when I enjoyed similar pleasures...I used to enjoy watching the kingfisher hunt, wrestle with, and kill its prey from our house that was right next to the paddy fields. It took 2 or 3 quick knocks on the branch of a tree to kill and de-shell a crab and then, the hurried and awkward gulping.
The hummingbirds, darting from flower to flower continuously flapping their wings, and the woodpeckers, incessantly knocking away on tree trunks, mocked my glorious purposelessness...
Ah...where are all the winged charmers, where is mom, where am I?
No comments:
Post a Comment