Fruits and Birds...!

I was on a leisurely morning walk in our garden yesterday, taking time to plan for irrigating the soil as the early onset of summer is making the vegetation look dry! 

I noticed a papaya fruit almost ready to pluck and went to our barn to get a  bamboo pole to drop the fruit. 

When I came black with a pole, I noticed beak marks of a bird on the fruit. I decided to wait if any bird would come back for the feed.

A Barbet was perched in a tree next to the Papaya tree. I was almost sure that it was waiting to return to the fruit.

That was exactly what happened. Once it positioned itself in the Papaya tree, it looked around for a while to see if there was any threat in its vicinity. They are usually not comfortable when squirrels are around. The Barbets and squirrels compete for the Papaya fruit.  It glanced at me couple of times.

Soon it started feeding on it from the same site where the beak marks were already present. So it was clear to me that the same Barbet had already come earlier to feed on it. As the fruit tree is adjacent to a pedestrian road, it must have been disturbed by some noise and was perched in the tree next to it to return at an opportune time!  

A squirrel was watching this from the tree next to this site. It moved slowly and steadily towards the fruit. Sighting the squirrel, the Barbet flew away.

When the Barbet flew away,  it came charging and landed on the fruit The squirrel was faster to feed and gulped large chunks of the fruit in no time, making a gaping hole on the fruit.

A crow chased away the squirrels by its noisy arrival and it caved into the fruit without  any pauses to look around in between.

The crow was ready to fly away after a sumptuous feast in less than five minutes, but only after it made its bird calls several times!

In no time, the adjacent tree had a few crows waiting for their feed.

At this time, I was interrupted by the workmen who had arrived for work in the property. When I returned after forty-five minutes, the fruit was almost consumed. I do not think that the Barbets or squirrels would have had a second chance with so many crows feeding on the fruit. 

I picked up the bamboo pole I brought earlier to pluck the fruit and returned home with mixed feelings. On one hand the fruit from this Papaya is special to Anna and myself because it is distinctly different from the others in our garden. On the other hand, it was good to give it away to the avians and squirrel as finding fruits in the garden make them return to the garden. What is in a garden without avian visitors!

Often, even before we notice, the birds or squirrels would have fed from the ripe bananas!

My parents who took to serious farming after retiring from their teaching profession,  deliberately left some fruits in the trees without plucking them for the avian visitors. I think they unconsciously made our garden a place of welcome for birds and squirrels. 

I feel immensely pleased with their acts of mindfulness for lesser beings!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)