A rainbow experience!

During a visit to an institution, I took a walk in the garden around  the entrance to the large campus. What I noticed was the well tended garden spaces in between the buildings. That gave a decorative and aesthetic look. 

Some open spaces remained wild as below or can turned into eco friendly spaces, both of which have a purpose of its own. 

It is the blend of tended garden and wild overgrowth that create a nature friendly approach to life in nature. The garden space with plants and trees tended to, provide an appearance of the richness and diversity in nature. 

The wild overgrowth is a space which allows nature's rhythm of life for plants and trees. That overgrowth of the landscape protects soil from erosion and allows reptiles to have their homes in the hidden cover. 

It occurred to me during this walk, that the canvas of life for most of us is a blend of such a planned and organised way of living and events and experiences which occur naturally bringing surprises or interruptions. 

Even for a person, with adversities crowding his or her life, life is still a stream, which can absorb the shocks and pains for us to emerge with hope and purpose. 

I felt challenged at the end of the walk to protect myself from a tendency to be only absorbed by the enticing experiences of life, but stay open to look for the defining effects of difficult or straining events in life. 

The earth offers life for all plants and trees. 

I wonder if it was a message to me to view all experiences in life for them to be sometimes  colourful and some other times to be a passage through testing times!

How refreshing it is to be able to look at life, living and learning as a rainbow experience!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

 

Th routines of the morning!

 

I was back in our garden after three days after returning from my travel. The squirrel was the first to spot me and kept glancing at me. It was the twilight time and the squirrel who is resident in our garden stopped to see if I was leaving food in the feeding station. 

No sooner had I left some bananas in the feeding tray, a Bulbul arrived, followed by others. Two of them waited for me to move out before they started to feed. 

Some birds are familiar with some rituals and become familiar with  people. 

Dulcie and Daffny indicated strongly how much they missed seeing me for a few days. 

Anna mentioned how both of the needed extra attention. They too have a rhythm of Anna taking them for a walk. My turn is in the morning. Dulcie would want to come with me when I go to collect the newspaper from the gate at day break. Daffny would want to come with me when I go to open the gates. It is when I return after this I fill the trays for the birds. Often they would have arrived to perch in the trees around the feeding station. 

I felt good to return to the rhythm at day break after a few days. 

I got a sense of how much birds and canines develop an attachment to som routines. 

During my years of involvement with parents, I have had parents talking about the struggle of introducing a rhythm to children. They follow the rhythm only if each activity is made interesting. It is easier for a  child to want to brush the teeth, if the tooth brushe musical. It is easier if they have time for water play before being bathed. It might be easier if a pre-school child be told, what would follow after breakfast, to make the breakfast time easier. If the activity that was to follow after breakfast, was something that would be amusing, the time taken for breakfast will usually be short!

The routines need the enticement of a playful approach for a pre-school child. The stress of forcing to perform an activity is a burden to parents and the child. 

The Birds have a rhythm. They groom their body every morning to make the flight easier. 

It is when children find a pleasant experience, they would welcome an activity! 

To introduce sound child development practices to pre-school children, parents need to use ways to make them appealing to a pre-school child! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

A bird calls out for freedom

I noticed this Bulbul sitting surrounded by a  loop of metal cable, calling out loudly! Its direction was towards this bunch of white flowers in our garden. 

I heard this bird call after reading in the newspaper about recent shoot out in Manipur and escalation of war in the Palestine-Israel territories and adjacent areas in Lebanon, Iran, etc. The Russian and Ukrainian conflict is non-negotiable as of now. 

The indifferent and sometimes defiant mood of the president elect of the USA adds to this anxiety to all those who waited for peace conversations to dominate after the elections!

A bulbul inside a loop of metal cable! Its enclosure is a symbol of millions in war prone areas living their reduced lives with limited access to food, water, medicines, home....!

I wish those who matter and decide the political and geographical destiny of nations would hear the desperate bird call of this Bulbul! Let me be free!

Freedom and the space to be oneself is a birthright! All those who are greedy of occupying the territory that is genuinely of others deprive others from being themselves in their homeland! 

It is only another two weeks, when we shall enter the season of advent!

The annual ritual of returning to recall the first Bethlehem scene is a pilgrimage to return with peace within!

I wish the nations who inflict hurts and injury on others will become peace promoters!

The inward looking to promote, me, mine and myself is a journey backward in history, unmindful of neighbours and each other! That was a story, from where we liberated ourselves to live freely for each other! 

 

With the archbishop Canterbury resigning from his office, facing charges of cover up, we witness another scene, when those in positions of responsibility to promote, love, peace and brotherhood have failed us!

This season of advent is a time of giving, forgiving and healing!

Will the nations of this world where the state promotes violence, aggression and harm, pause and return to be protectors of the vulnerable!

Even a Bulbul calls out for such a change in attitude and practice!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Flowers of the day!

 

Every time the seasonal transition takes place, there is something to look forward in the garden. Now it is the season of flowers !

With the mid day temperature dropping to about 25 degree celsius, the flowers last longer in the plants. The dew of the night is an added protection, prolonging the life of the petals!

It is a celebration time for birds and bees for nectar gathering!

It is a season of colours and fragrance in our garden!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Life in the garden!

A custard apple which gave us fruits for three years got damaged in a storm and its main stem was in the process of decay. Following the recent rain, a shoot is growing arising from its root. It surprised me. 

The early signs of winter setting in our garden are the dew drops, noticeable early in the morning on the rose plants and some rose plants blooming.

Two birds were noticed in our front garden, one a Bulbul at the feeding station and another one an Oriole, after the birds stayed away for five days following the accidental injury to a Barbet to which it succumbed. 

The nests in this tree in our garden announce the breeding season. The Bulbuls and Sunbirds are the birds who breed during this time of the year. 

They were the sights and surprises of this morning!

More to come with winter setting in!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

When Chilly becomes a meal!

Anna wondered how red chillies from a plant in our garden disappear without any one plucking them!

I happened to notice a Tree pie feeding on them the next morning. 

Following the feeding session, it was perched on an adjacent tree, rubbing its beaks on the branch! Did it feel its tongue burning!

It was the first time I watched a tree pie feeding on chillies. A strange sight! I looked up to get any information about the taste buds in the tongue of the-pies. Later I realised that most birds swallow the food. So the chillies do not get crushed in its mouth. That is how they escape feeling of the burning sensation in the tongue. 

What habit of swallowing food to escape tasting the food! Since this, I was looking for any other species of birds feeding on red chillies! The Bulbuls feed on black petter that too by swallowing! 

It is a garden that brings new information about birds!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A mourning garden!

I was surprised that the feeding station in our garden did not have the usual gathering of birds in the morning on one day last week. Instead I noticed some Barbets perched in cables and trees around the feeding station, looking listless and somber!

That made me suspicious of something unusual. It was when I looked around I saw a barbet lying dead under a rose bush. I plucked some petals from the rose flowers and scattered them around its body to pay my respects being a visitor to our garden.  

When our domestic worker came for work, we had the Barbet buried in the flower bed surrounded by Lilies and rose bushes. 

We had one Bulbul visiting the feeding station on that day and the birds are yet to return to the feeding station even after three days. 

It is the first time I have had any close contact with the mourning experience of the avian world. 

Three things that occurred to me for the birds staying away from the feeding station, following the death of a fellow bird: the birds were aware of a loss a fellow bird; they wanted to stay away from the site where the bird was found dead and the birds might have had a threat perception.

A close inspection of the body of the Barbet showed blood stains near its head, which made me wonder if it had a traumatic injury during flight!

The flight accidents do occur  to some birds, who normally fly between foliage thick trees. 

I found how four Barbets were expressive of their mournful behaviour publicly!

It is thought that the emotional quotient of birds is higher than their cognitive quotient. I got a sense of that today watching Bulbuls, Barbets, Mynas and Sunbirds staying away from the garden for the last two days. 

What a disappointment it is to have a mourning garden! 

We hope birds will return and make the garden avian friendly! A garden is a home for some and is a meeting place for all species of birds. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)