The Sunday visitors !

 

After having been in the teak tree relishing the seeds, a family of parakeets came to our garden to feed on the tender arecanuts from the palm in our garden. It was the first time I noticed the parakeets in this florescence of the palm tree. It was a gathering of few families of parakeets. 

What surprised me was that they stayed on in the garden for a while moving between trees. I noticed their different postures. One was perched with one leg, another was leaning its body on a branch as if it was resting and another pair was perched facing each other in attentive listening. 

Their feeding habits are different from that of Bulbuls, Magpie robins or Barbets. They need chewy and juicy fruits, unlike the pulpy and soft fruits. 

Another palm next to the palm with the tender fruits, had arecanuts that are older. The parakeets had no interest in them. 

As they are choosy, the parakeets are long distance fliers each day to find their feed. They often have a migratory habit except during the nesting season. They are less sociable towards smaller birds. They are noisy and fly with loud screeching bird calls. The Bulbuls look up when the parakeets fly above them and stay still. 

The parakeets in their feeding and social behaviour are different from some of the birds we come across in our garden. They too bring colour and aesthetic tone to the bird life in our garden. 

It was an occasion to have had a closer and longer view of them yesterday. 

A garden is a home for all of them. 

I wish the human hearts would also be a home for our neighbours! When that happens, Russia would stop invading Ukraine and Israel will stop bombarding the Palestinians. 

In India, we need more social and religious acceptance of each other! It is good to see how the conservatives and liberals speak a language of acceptance after their recent national elections! Whereas the Prime Minister of India and the opposition leader look for an opportunity to 'attack' each other.  

With the campaign for the election in the USA has commenced, we can hear the language of intolerance from both national parties! 

It is by being thoughtful towards others, even towards 'enemies', we overcome evil with good ! We create a home for our neighbours by acts of kindness. 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)