Visiting birds and being visited!

I have friends who make regular trips to different places to spot, watch, take photographs and describe habitat and behaviours of birds. I could not get into that habit although it is about thirty years since I have had some interest in observing the sanctuary of nature where multiple events take place each day. 

For various reasons, the focus of the most observations about nature was largely the garden around our house. 

There are some birds who reside in the garden and a larger number who visit the garden during their flight path. 

A friend knowing my limitations to be a birder by visiting places where birds can be seen and tracked, he suggested, 'What if you allow birds to visit you'! 

According to him, three prerequisites for birds to visit were: make the garden inviting for birds to visit ; stay in the same place, whenever possible at the golden hour in the morning and evening and wait for birds to visit;  identify birds who are comfortable to come near to human habitations. 

I followed those three suggestion. We stopped burning leaves to make ash for manuring the coconut palms; we trimmed trees in a scattered manner lest the birds would loose the cover of foliage for their shelter at night all at one time; made access for birds to feed on fruits like papaya and banana and trained the dogs not to bark at the birds. 

One way of making the garden inviting was to grow many flowering plants and gathering only enough flowers for table decorations; make bird feeding stations in two places in the garden where, at different times of the day, food that would suit each species was served around the time when they come regularly,  and retain dry small branches of the trees to stay for birds to use them as flight stations. That worked. We have birds who come to feed and use the dried branches as flight stations. 

Waiting for birds to arrive in one place helped as birds who like to have human contacts do come to same place regularly. I avoid taking photos when birds come for the first time unless it is a migrating bird. When they feel at home in the garden, they allow photographs and would even pause by engaging in eye contact. Usually the regular visitors would even call out if they do not see me. The Bulbuls who like fruits come to the kitchen door and call out if the feeding station does not have food for them. 

The Sunbird who came to visit this morning, whose photographs are above, is a regular visitor. Usually Sunbirds stop nectar gathering if found to be photographing. One has to stay in a distant place and use a telephoto lens to capture their movements. 

Today, this Sunbird surprised me. It came close to the steps of the cottage and called out. I was able to take the camera and take some photos with face to face contact. It was unusual. 

There were about thirty birds today between 7 am and 9 am, visiting their usual flight stations in our garden. Some returned when the feeding bowl was refilled. 

Birds visit the garden as their habit. It is another experience when you feel visited by familiar birds by a gesture of familiarity. 

I felt visited by some birds as they made bird calls similar to the tone of the calls when they are ready to socialise. The Sunbird seemed to have looked out for me!

 

It is only occasional that I get a feeling of being visited by avian friends! That brought a good feeling. A few more birds are getting used to me!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)