Nests in the Garden

A crow nestling has emerged in the crow's nest that I'd written about in my earlier post. There were three eggs but only one baby crow made it into the world.

Crow Nestling: Nearly 20 Days Old

This is one spunky little chick that's always demanding food and attention from its parents. Actually it needn't bother. Both its parents are very indulgent and are forever fussing over their only baby. Tasty morsels are brought to it all day. Often, some of it is deposited on our bathroom windowsill. The other day, we had a large chicken foot placed on our windowsill. The hideous image of the severed foot completely freaked me out. But I imagine it was a treat for our baby crow.

Screaming for its Food: Like all Babies, Bird or Human

Another bird's nest that came to my notice is an exquisite tailorbird's nest. Abandoned by the birds, I was free to examine it from all angles. The nest is most impressive. Two large leaves have been delicately sewn together with plant fibre. 

Abandoned Tailorbird's Nest

Underside: Sewn together with Plant Fibre

The inside is lined with soft material, specially beak-picked by the parents. The tailorbird is a tiny bird, with a high-pitched chwee chwee call. Always flitting from branch to branch, it hardly ever stays still. And though I spot it ever so often, I've never been able to capture this bird with my lens. At least now I have shots of its workmanship.

Inside the Nest: Warm and Cosy

There's one more nest in the garden, that deserves mention. A hornets' nest. Though beautiful, this nest mostly evokes dread in me.  Here's a zoomed in picture of the nest, courtesy of my neighbour. The nest being on the top (fourth) floor of our building, my simple, point and shoot camera could not measure up to the task.

Hornets' Nest: Made of Chewed Plant Fibre and Wasps' Saliva

After a lot of research on the Internet, I've come to believe that this is the Greater Banded Hornet or the Vespa Tropica. Please correct me, if I am wrong. 

Greater Banded Hornet / Vespa Tropic: A Dead One

The sting of this wasp is rather painful. We know this for a fact as we've recently had two victims. While a bee stings once, a wasp can sting repeatedly and without any apparent provocation. What is more worrying is that a small percentage of people are allergic to the stings and if stung, can go into anaphylactic shock, which is potentially fatal.

In cooler climes, most wasps die in winter. But the so called winter in Chennai may simply go unnoticed by the wasps.  While I find the presence of the hornet's nest threatening, (especially on hot days), and am even contemplating its elimination, I'm also hoping I don't have to meddle with nature. Would the wasps do me a favour and relocate some place else. Or is this wishful thinking?

Good News From My Garden

There’s some good news! A crow couple, which lives adjacent to my building, is expecting triplets.  They have a nest atop a coconut tree, which I can peek into from the stair case landing of the third floor. The would-be parents are guarding the eggs round the clock. But on this rare occasion, the parents were away and I managed to take two good photos of the pale green eggs in their nest.

Three Crow's Eggs

Nearly Hidden From View

Despite the scorching heat in the afternoon, the evenings are often cool and pleasant. Occasionally we even have a spell of rain. Early in the week, when it was about to rain, this Kingfisher seemed rapturous. It went about shrieking “Kee Kee Kee Keeeee”, almost begging me to take a picture of it. So I obliged.

White Breasted Kingfisher

In my earlier post, Birds from My Window, I’d mentioned the rare sighting of the Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker. Well, I recently spotted it for the second time. It was right above me, but I didn’t have my camera handy. By the time I went up and down three floors for my camera, the bird had moved away, thanks to the crows. But here is a zoomed in, long shot of the beauty.

Lesser Golden-Backed Woodpecker

Coming to the flora in my garden. The suspense with regard to my brinjal is over.  And it is…. it is the small, round, purple variety. It was delicious, almost melting, as I had it in my sambar yesterday.

Purple Brinjal Drenched in the Rain

Let me sign off with pictures from the balcony garden and the garden downstairs.

Pomegranate Blooms

Bunches of Pink Ixora flowers

Spotted Leaves and Floor: Caladium Plant