Ready for nesting!

The Bulbuls were together for a while. One flew away and the other too soon followed. One  of them returned with twigs between its bills. The other too arrived shortly. They both flew away beyond visibility!  

I felt overwhelmed by different sights in one morning all in a short time at day break!

It awakened me to a new level of consciousness about the silent events in nature which call us to  give more attention to keep our environment hospitable!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Grooming and catching a fly!

It was worth following the morning ritual of this Asian green Bee eater in our garden! 

First it moved from one station to another to complete its grooming. Then in positioned itself to spot a fly. Having caught one, it positioned itself in a comfortable posture before swallowing it. 

It was a fascinating sight to say the least!

Its movements were swift, but planned and pleasing to watch! It flew to catch a fly and it happened every time it attempted!

For me ti was a challenge for better planning and staying focussed!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

At Day break on Sunday!

This Magpie Robin was in its usual site at day break with its melodious bird call! The other birds in our garden were still not seen at their usual flight stations. 

This bird followed its own morning ritual of singing for others!

Singing for others...doing something for others to bring cheer!

M.X.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Banana fruit!

We have about five hundred banana plants in our garden. Some parts of our garden look like a forest as these tall thickly growing plants obliterate the sight beyond. 

One phenomenon that fascinates me is how, when the fruit bunch emerges from the stem of the plant, there is a brown protective cover over each layer of the banana! As each layer of banana grows the the protective cover falls off. 

At the end of each young banana fruit there is a flower which has nectar which squirrels come to gather. 

My presence halted this squirrel from jumping from the coconut palm to the banana plant for its nectar gathering. I waited for a while to take pictures of the squirrel gathering nectar! But it had not returned. 

Banana is a fruit for humans, avians and squirrel.

A fruit gives honey when it is tender!

Even before the fruit is edible it gives honey as  food for squirrels and birds !

A banana plant dies after the bunch of banana is cut when ready to ripen. It has given honey and fruit and is no more! But many young banana plants would have sprouted from the tuber underneath. So one banana plant during its life of about a year or so would have given birth to about three or four young plants along with giving its fruit. 

A symbol for living!

Giving freely and fully!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Barn swallow

I noticed these avian visitors in the wetland below our property a few weeks ago but did not give much attention to them till I discovered this morning that they are migratory birds who breed across the Northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere. They are Barn Swallows. 

They live in open spaces and feed on insects during their flights. They might not be seen on the ground for the same reason. With open spaces getting reduced with skyscrapers, these birds look out for open spaces and fly about in the air. 

They can be seen near human habitations and are considered to be birds who work as pest control for humans. But their numbers are decreasing due to overuse of pesticides for farming.

The Barn Swallow is an international symbol of bird migration and threatened habitats for different bird species. 

The Barn swallow according to reports were not sighted as frequently as usual in 2021. I was encouraged to spot them accidentally in the last week of December 2021and take a few pictures of them not knowing their rarity.

During the few minutes they were spotted on the electric cable,  I sensed that they were birds with watching. They were colourful, elegant and looked unusual. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Striped Barbados Lily

 

These Lilies are in full bloom in our front garden! This is one plant which does not require much attention. It blooms twice a year. The bees and birds to gather nectar. 

I feel that nature has a refreshing touch on human soul!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Moving backward!

I do not recall of watching earlier a Woodpecker moving backwards in a descending motion ! It moved sideways in a zig-zag fashion to move downwards. Its body looked couched during this movement. It did not look like a sliding movement but a planned move. 

I wish it had done it once more for me to have been  ready to capture this fascinating sight in a video. 

To let go of the grip while perched precariously on the coconut palm was what the woodpecker did. 

To let go did mean being vulnerable to fall of the stem! 

No movement forward or backward can take place without letting go!

To move from being in a secure position is not a common human instinct. To reinforce the secure position is the natural instinct. 

I felt that it was easy for a Woodpecker to do so because it has its wings to fly back to safety if it lost its grip during this descending movement. 

The descending movement is bringing it closer to the ground. I kept pondering over this for a while! From a flight of imagination or a fantasy of  possibilities, one needs to move to be well grounded in the current realities. 

For me in the seventh decade of life, living would mean forward and backward movements. The message that came to me during this reflection was from Psalm 131: 'O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul..'!

This passage calls for movement towards being real and present to what is ordinary and possible!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Asian openbill !

An Asian open bill stork was strolling in the marshy field below our garden in the morning and feeding from the field. 

It walked slowly and elegantly. Its body movements had a minimalistic style. Its long bill remained open excepts at the tip, which is why they are named like that I presume. The long neck unlike the retracted neck of herons and egrets stand out. Its pinkish legs, greyish bill and and dull grey body in the back give them a distinct look. 

It is not a common bird in our village. It is likely to be a migratory bird to our area. 

I wish I had waited longer to hear its bird call!

Bird watching is complete only when one can hear their bird calls and watch their movements!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

All things bright and Beautiful !

I do not know whether it was fair to take a long walk in our garden today, when the Republic Day parade was going on New Delhi! 

However I had my share of taking in some bright and beautiful sights, which according to a  children's song says, ' All things bright and beautiful, God made them all'!

I returned from the walk, carrying within me a message of the 'presence of stillness'! It is a contrast to being present immersed in activities. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Slipping from safety !

I took time to watch the movements of a Sunbird during its search for nectar. It positioned itself on a fragile flower. The six photos in the order placed here show us how it was secure with its feet placed between flowers. 

The seventh picture shows the flower on which its one foot was resting and how it got partially separated from the flower stalk, while the bird attempted to fly away. The Sunbird subsequently repositioned itself on an adjacent flower and the last three pictures show how the bird was comfortably perched on the stalk of another flower. 

The flower which got separated by the weight of the bird is seen hanging in the last four pictures. 

What is even more worth noting is how the flower which was upright drooped with the weight of the bird in the seventh photo. 

The sunbird was shifting between a slippery and safety path. 

I am not sure if most of us would choose a slippery path knowing that there is a high risk of loss!

In 1981, after the home call of our daughter Anita Susan when Anna and I were fairly sure that we ought to leave my faculty position in Child Health at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, to explore to establish a facility for the care of developmentally challenged children. The first response we received from our well wishers at that time was, 'avoid taking a slippery path'! 

So we stayed on at Vellore for a few more months hoping that a door would be opened for us at CMC Vellore to be engaged with children with developmental,ntal needs. When that did not happen, we left to spend a year at the Christian Fellowship Hospital, Oddanchatram to prepare for beginning the charitable trust, ASHIRVAD Christian Concern for Child Care. That was how the Child Development Centre was started at Chennai in November, 1983. 

We would enter into the fortieth year of ASHIRVAD in 2023 We have begun to think of turning the current year to prepare ourselves to think of ways of remembering the events and experiences of the forty years in a meaningful way. 

It so happens that ASHIRVAD enters into the 25th year of partnership with the Christian Medical College, Vellore this year of  starting he first developmental Paediatrics Unit in India in 1997, which saw the beginning of a post doctoral Fellowship training programme for  Paediatricians in this specialty and the establishment of a PhD programme. This year is the 35th year of partnership with St Andre's Church, Egmore, Chennai to start the ASHA programme for children with developmental needs in its campus. It is now 30 years since starting the Early Learning Centre at Nagpur. It is also the tenth year since ASHIRVAD collaborated with the MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery to start the services of Developmental Paediatrics. 

I confess that Anna and I felt in the first two years at Chennai when the Child Development Centre was in its gestational stage that we were walking a slippery path. We felt overwhelmed by inadequate training and limitation of facilities. The initiative of the Bible Medical Missionary Fellowship to sponsor us to go the Institute of Child Health in London in 1986 for a former training in Child Development and Rehabilitation gave us stability and direction we needed for the future. Subsequently the association with the Institute of Neurology at the Madras Medical College till 1997 consolidated the strength we needed to pursue developing this specialty of Developmental Paediatrics. 

The opportunity of associating with the formation of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, being in the governing councils of the Christian Medical Colleges in Ludhiana and Vellore, Christian Medical Association of India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, Asha Kiran Hospital, Lamptaput, Christian Fellowship Hospital Oddanchatram, etc were special opportunities to be in touch with the net work of health care in India.

The Sunbird was seen being on a slippery path! It still found its nectar for its feed. 

I wish that some of us who have been journeying on a slippery path would take encouragement in the fact that the slippery path seasonally is normal in the journey of life ! There is sufficient safety even while being on a slippery terrain, because living in such a terrain adds to fortitude and resilience. 

I like how the first two verses of Ecclesiastes 11 reads, 'Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.  Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on earth'. The fourth verse is even more inspiring;' He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the cloud will not reap'. 

It is normal to move from being in a safe setting to spend our life time in a purposeful way keeping he needs of others in our focus! The Sunbird found its nectar, so shall we would find our needs meet!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)