Similar looking birds!

The above pair of scaly breasted Munia, perched in the wild grass  early in the morning gave me an opportunity to observe their courtship.  They were in the grooming ritual, but communicating to each other in chirps and looks. 

Usually a flock of these Munia consists of about ten or more and fly together and feed from the ground. They were mostly near the grass, whenever I noticed them, as they feed on the grass seeds, insects and some grains. 

These birds are protected by wild life rules in India with caging or hunting prohibited. 

Two or three generations of them live together and are often invaders into garden where there is overgrowth of grass.

The photos below of an Eurasian tree sparrow have a similar colour complexion but the plumage and the bills are different. Their habitat is also is different. They come close to human habitats and can be found near the kitchen or where food is served. They are common in lightly wooded areas with hedgerows, seedbeds along lake shores, parks with ornamental plants and bushes. 

This family of birds used to be popular in urban livelihood, but with vegetations fading away, they have moved to sub-urban or rural areas. The house sparrows have a greyish crown and the tree sparrows have the chestnut-brown head and nape. The tree sparrows feed on rice, but also protect the crops by feeding on the pests. The tree sparrows thrive on Sunflower seeds. 

Both house sparrow and tree sparrow feed from the ground. It is therefore a good practice to scatter the seeds in the corner of a courtyard for a few days, which will be noticed by the house or tree sparrows to come and stay around. 

The sparrows have a different style of grooming because of which they look more tidier in their plumage than the Munia. 

As the winter sets in the bird migration starts. I notice this in our garden. The bird population has declined in the last one month. The resident birds alone are noticeable. The visiting birds are fewer now.

The smaller birds can be fascinating for bird watchers. Their habitat and behaviour tell us a lot of about the changing ecology and human indiscreetness towards them!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

In the evening!

I noticed a Magpie robin perched in. dry stem at dusk and watched its changing body posture, direction of look and composure of its face. During that five minutes, it was perched in the garden, when the bird movements in the garden for the day was over, gave me an opportunity to observe how a single bird behaves when the time for finding a night shelter has come! Its silence without any bird call was striking. 

Its aloneness was a message that lingered in my mind for a while. 

What is it which makes this bird look forward to the night and the day ahead! A bird too has its attachments and rhythm for the night and the day. It has its own identity and environment to belong to.

And yet, it is anonymously present in a large garden. 

The intensity of attention with which this bird was looking around gave me an indication that its body behaviour was a message of alert presence and anticipation! It has a night ahead before the day break!

The night before the day break is often a long wait!

I listened to a family which has had all the members needing medical attention in a aspen of three months. The ordeal of stress is not yet over as all the three would need further medical attention. Their son needed three hospital admissions in two months. It has made the family depleted of their financial resources and the emotional endurance to cope. 

This aloneness is an experience of many. 

A friend who was a recently diagnosed  with an  advanced disease, is surrounded by his family with a sense of loss! They begin their lonely journey! The fear of the unknown is upon their hearts. 

This river I happened to visit at day break recently brought memories of its sound of its flow in the silence of the morning. It flows bringing its water for the abundance use of others. It preserves the aquatic life and life of all in its banks. 

A river is a symbol of givenness! 

For the bird above, the two families in distress referred above and all those in similar situations, facing the stress of the night before the dawn of the day need  hope that can sustain them. 

The river became a symbol to me when I reflected on these realities of life! The flowing river feeds and nourishes! Its flowing sound is a constant reminder of its presence to all those near it. 

The whisper of God's love and presence is silently present within and around us! 

The two last stanzas of the hymn of Fred Kaan, 'God has set us free for freedom' brought this message alive to my heart:

"Human hearts remain in turmoil

Till they found their rest in God;

He is source of peace and freedom,

Gives us Christ in flesh and blood.

Give us freedom, Lord to serve you,

Show us where we ought to go,

Never resting till all people's 

Cups are full and overflow".

I felt lifted to a new consciousness that aloneness is not the whole truth, but God's companionship is the truth! The flowing grace of His presence to troubled hearts and lonely voyagers!

When the sunshine at day break made the tree colourful, I was further affirmed of the given grace to dispel darkness and cloud of heaviness upon human hearts!

The night assures us of the day break!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Fear, fight or flight!

The scenes at the feeding station in our garden make me aware of the normal life experiences for avians and squirrels. 

This squirrel above was relishing the feed of a banana when a Tree pie and a Mynah were in a confrontational mood in the feeding station as seen in the second photo. 

That trigger of fear was enough for the squirrel to abandon its feed and retreat to look for a hiding place. It found a hiding place at the hollow of the bifurcation of the tree and when the bird calls of the two birds became louder, it moved up the tree and kept looking downward to watch the bird behaviour. 

Those few minutes when the squirrel was stationary, I noticed its body behaviour, which to me appeared to be an expression of stress and disturbance. 

The stress of being was real!

Our daily rhythm of life is often disturbed by events which happen suddenly. About fifteen minutes prior to the departure of flight the boarding gate was changed. As it was a silent air port there was no announcement in the public address system. When I saw some passengers getting up and looking at the display board and moving away, I too got up to look for the boarding gate. It was changed which meant going to another part of the air port in another floor. By the time I arrived at the new boarding gate, the boarding had commenced. 

After boarding, I retreated my emotional state while having to arrive at a new boarding gate. My mind did arouse within me suspicion and felt a state anxiety! I am an infrequent air traveller. My comfort was that the boarding time mentioned in the boarding pass was still a few minutes away. It occurred to me that the boarding time was about forty five minutes before the departure time. Therefore I would be on time to board. 

The immediate response to unexpected situation can be fear which leads to an action in a frightful mood!

The squirrel paused a few times to look back to sense how intense was the threat! The Tree pie birds chase away squirrels sometimes. It is the memory of the past that takes over to make us act impulsively. 

I was able to recall several flight journeys when everything went well. The experiences of the booked in baggage not arriving a few times, or a flight having to return due to technical snag which was a fire in an engine, came back to my mind . It is the memory that reactivates fear!

What helped me was recollection of many happy events in the air pot. On one occasion two years ago, I left the lap top behind while collecting all other items. A security personnel traced me while waiting to board and handed over to me the lap top. 

The recollection of some other pleasant experiences returned to my mind! It was then I raised that there is a traction towards recollecting negative experiences when something untoward takes place. The exercise of recalling many happy memories during air travel brought  comforting ambience. 

Often fear can be disproportionate to the reality of the moment. It is the memories of past stress that clouds the present and compounds to create  fearful  thoughts. 

Turning our mind to a healthier orientation, to live in the consciousness of the abundance of pleasant experiences, is part  of self regulation proposed by Daniel Golman, to develop the skills of Emotional Intelligence.

The ambience of peace within is what we need even in stressful situations! That is what would make stress transient and less intense!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Three sights !

A clear blue sky with its robe of snowy clouds, community feeding of Babblers and a Sunbird in its nectar gathering visit to the flowers, made me feel a message of tranquil while walking in our garden around the cottage!

It is then I felt awakened to the daily rhythm of nature to bring messages of different content!

The sights above have an internalising effect to a beholder!

For a poet such sights offer lines to pen; for a nature enthusiast, it is a sight to capture in his lens and for a reflective person it offers an inner orientation towards stillness to behold the surprises. 

These sights are formative in function though their message for an inner composure of wellness and aliveness. 

It is out of this aliveness, we enter the day to live in an awakened state!

The turbulences during the day would get subsumed by this imagery of life in its fullness revealed in nature!

It was while reading Psalm 24, verse one, the above photographs brought a consciousness, that, 'The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and all those who dwell on it' !

We live under the canopy of grace and love of God, who is the truth of our inmost being!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A preferred perch station!

Three different birds come to the same place during their flight movements in our garden!

I wonder what makes them to choose the same station!

This station is only thirty feet away from our cottage. Often birds who are perched at this station make their bird calls.  Both Daffny and Dulcie respond to their calls with their friendly barks. It is their barks which alert me to look out for the birds. Often each of the three comes one after the other. 

They are different and yet lot is common to them. 

What is common between people groups is lot more than the features or behaviour which separate them. 

The common human bond that gave humanity a cohesiveness is now fragile. There is polarisation based on ethnicity, religion, economic status, culture, etc!

The globalisation which became the catch phrase for the business world is now now threatened by a strong native spirit. The migration of people from the less developed countries to materially advanced  countries is now going to be restricted. The president elect of the USA has announced a deportation plan for those who live in the USA as guests without official resident status. 

We are no more in one global world, but live in countries with differing value system. 

Our garden at home is in the flight path of several birds every day  belonging to at least thirty species of birds. Most birds exchange reciprocal bird calls. This gives me hope. 

The birds bring message each day to live relationally and mindfully of others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The peaceful behaviour!

There were a few large birds in the garden perched, before they began the routine flight movements for the day, when I walked in to the garden at home. 

I filled the feeding tray with food and was waiting for the regular again visitors at the feeding station.

As usual the Bulbuls and others arrived and were waiting g for their turn.

What surprised me was a Tree pie who too arrived for millets in the feeding station. This was an unusual sight. A Tree pie is not a bird who socialises with other species of birds or comes too close to human dwellings. When the avian environment is disturbed, some birds feel distressed and change their behaviour for survival and adaptation. 

 

The delightful part of the morning was how a Myna before it started  feeding from the food tray,  sat at its brim and continued its bird calls to invite other birds for the feeding. 

Other birds arrived on hearing the bird calls of the Myna. 

What was surprising was how Myna moved out to the root stand while it allowed the other birds to feed!

I found the morning time in the garden a refreshing experience, where the birds practice mindfulness and awareness of the needs of the others. 

It occurs at a time when Russia is intensifying its attack on the Ukrainian territory, and the casualties in Gaza due to the attack of Israel is only increasing. The Manipur ethnic violence is intensifying and it is now eighteen months since it erupted. 

We live in a contrasting world. The birds demonstrate attentiveness to the needs of others. The human fraternal attitude is replaced by violent streaks and intentional harm for others in certain parts of the world. I am currently in the north east region and happened to hear distressing stories of lives of people in  Manipur, who have been caught in the ethnic strife. The stories of women and children, who suffer violence is heart rending. 

The recent protest by a parliamentarian in NewZealand during its session, from the native community and the subsequent protest by the native people in the street bring to the surface the unresolved tension between the natives and settlers. 

I found that the birds were messengers of peace in our garden. All birds found a place in the garden ar at the feeding station!

It is a call to pursue for peace!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A tree bed

During a visit to a garden last week, I noticed several trees protected with an elevated tree bed, which has a grass cover to preserve the soil!

The trees require protection of the root system and their branches and foliage. I noticed trimmed trees and with their root system protected in the garden. 

The old and young trees have a protected ground which guard their roots and the stem. 

A family is who supports the growth trajectory of children. In the recent years, a message I receive from parents is the demand on them to keep the family life focussed for the promotion of the wellness of children. 

To offer children the stability of parenting support its what seems to be at stake! Parents have the strain of work and stress of coping socially, economically and relationally!

Who supports the family system, for the next generation of children to have a congenial environment at home to grow up!

I wonder whether more family life champions will be found in our institutions and organisations, where people work and relate! I wish there will be a focus on family life wellness as a stated policy of all organisations where people work!

It is the people who form an organisation or a work place. It is the family life that provides the ambience for people to feel at home! It is from the experience of fullness at home, all workers become givers and enablers in the work place!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

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)