Indian Summer: a bird's-eye view

Hot. Hotter. Summer-est!
It's been a boiling, roasting season in Mumbai, hasn't it? All over India, actually (except those places which got some unseasonal showers  ... so very envious!). Now, can we get express-delivery of the Monsoons, please?
I loved the mangoes and all those other super-delicious summer fruits , both in the garden and in the markets.
And I loved all those streets spilling over with wave upon wave of summer blooms .
And there were the last of the migratory birds.(how I love that Paradise Flycatcher!). But I'm craving some refreshing monsoon rain right now!

Have you seen one of these birds? If you had, believe me, you'd never forget it. The Asian Paradise Flycatcher definitely deserves the second part of his name. Especially the adult males in flight. Sheer poetry!
This one here is a juvenile male, I think. It's hard to tell because they look almost exactly like the adult female untill they transform into their pure white feathered form topped with a crested jet-black head.
 I'm told that it is that blue ring around the eyes that differentiates the juvenile male from the adult female. I don't know if that's true but I'm hoping that this guy is going to come back next season in his white avatar.

The Alexandrine Parakeets have been at their screechiest-best. The cashew-fruits are growing and they've been feasting on the tender nuts. Huge swarms (there's no better word to describe it!) descend on my trees and by the time they move away, the ground is littered with the shells. Frankly, I don't mind. It's worth it to see these gregarious birds up so close. These two were high up on a mahogany tree and very curious why I was focusing on them.

And, my Pariah Kite (Black Kite)! There are more of them nesting on my trees now and I love seeing them fly. Unlike other birds in flight, with them you can almost see those strong wing muscles tautening.
This tall teak tree is one of his favourite perches. I guess it gives him the perfect look-out point.

He has definitely got the snakes on the run, though. This little Buff Striped Keelback was racing to reach the cover of a few scattered dry leaves and cautiously poked his head out to see if everything was safe before quickly slipping back under them when he spotted me with this huge lens aimed directly at him. (I don't blame him... my new 70-300mm lens intimidates even me sometimes!) 

And, I know the Oriental Garden Lizards don't feel any safer. Camouflage will keep you safe only just so much. The razor-sharp eyes of a raptor can probably zero in on him from the top of a tree at the other end of the garden.

The Sparrows love my bird-bath. It's just a natural rock with a hollow on top which is right in the middle of my garden. I keep it topped up with water and in summer it is a bird magnet unlike anything else! Every single bird in the vicinity troops in and waits their turn. Some politely, some not. I guess that 1 minute of splashing in the water is worth the wait for them.
What's the bet that these birds have been waiting for the Monsoon as eagerly (if not, more) as us?

Maybe Summer could slip away incognito and leave this Common Jezebel to represent her. Seriously! Can you think of anything more Summer-y?!

Wings and stings : the other side of the garden

The monsoon is still in full force in Mumbai; soaking the city, whipping the trees, thrumming a tattoo on car-tops, driving everyone indoors.
But the minute there is a lull, my garden is a-buzz. The passion-flowers are in full bloom and there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of very busy bees hard at work. I don't blame them. The fragrance of the passion-flowers is so sweet and seductive!
I have never tried to locate the hives of these bees to harvest their honey. That belongs to them; they work so hard for it.

All over the world, reports are pouring in of tragic colony collapses. (Why is it so important to us? Important enough for Einstein to state "If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would have only four years left to live"! He was referring to the fact that one-third of our crops depend on honey bees for pollination Take them out of the picture and that's famine you're staring at!
Take a look at this trailer of 'More than honey'. Very interesting! )

Here, in my garden, though, the bees seem to be thriving. And I love watching them going about their work.

I had never really noticed how a bee slurps up nectar! Did you see its tongue? In some of the other pictures I've clicked, the tongue is stuck out long before the bee has landed on the flower ... greedy! (Or just super-efficient?)
And the passionflower is so ingenious. I had never really noticed before how its oval anthers are curved just-so to perfectly fit the curve of a bee. All the better to dust you with pollen, my dear!
And our greedy bee is liberally smothered with this golden dust, little knowing (or caring, I'm sure) that she's a pampered, very well-compensated courier.

hmmm .... I wonder how passionflower-flavoured honey would taste?

If the passionflower is perfectly designed for visiting bees to sit and sip awhile, other blooms like this Safed musli ( Chlorophytum breviscapum ) are not so accommodating. But if the medicinal qualities of this very potent plant are going to be infused in the honey ... maybe I should be expecting an explosive growth in the bee population soon!

But, jokes aside, the bees have to be some of the most beneficial and valued creatures in the garden. Even if we gardeners do grouse about unexpected stings once in a while.
Painful, but such a small price to pay for help in the garden!

Wasps are some of my other favourite beneficials in the garden. Except, they won't hand out anything tasty and edible like honey. But they're skilled hunters and they do take care of pests!

Most wasps tuck in a snack for baby to munch on when it hatches. I've seen them scout around plants, locate a bug or caterpillar (sometimes much bigger than itself) and carry it off to its nest to be packed in.
Talk about an efficient tiffin service!

These Paper Wasps can be very aggressive if anyone goes near their nest. Just look at their body language ... they're ready to attack if I move my camera any closer. The things we do for a photo (foolish, foolish me!)!

Okay, I know this is really, really gruesome (believe me, it's a hundred times worse when you actually see it!) but I had to show you. I was walking home the other day when I saw this wasp land on a plant and scout around. It suddenly darted under a leaf and wrestled out this large, plump caterpillar (I think it's a Common Mormon ). Before I could react, it had subdued the poor caterpillar, stripped a long piece of skin and flesh off it, rolled it into a ball and flew off with it!

So shockingly gruesome! I guess if that had been the caterpillar of a Cabbage moth I wouldn't have mourned so much but I've always been partial to the Common Mormons and its cousins.

If this was a movie, it would've never got past the Censors. But then, that's Nature for you. It can be astoundingly beautiful and gentle, as well as mind-numbingly violent and matter-of-fact.
The wasps and other beneficial creatures are yet another weapon in Nature's arsenal to maintain the balance and keep pests under control (no, you don't really need man-made chemicals to do that!) .

And when I talk of wings, I just can't leave the king of my garden out of this post, can I ? Ever since the Pariah Kite (Black Kite) family moved into my garden, I don't need to really bother about keeping the rat population under control. Especially when there's a hungry chick in the nest demanding to be fed around the clock.

Except, every once in a while, I do find their housekeeping throws up some startling discoveries! I found this skeleton of a snake  near the coconut tree on which they nest.
Pity! I quite like snakes, especially when they're so good at getting rid of rats for me.

In my book, any creature that helps me in my garden and cuts down on my work there, is one to be treasured.
Especially if they're as colourful as this Blue Banded Bee.
Even if they come with stings attached.

More links :
         Bee happy

Rush hour in the garden

October is a busy month in my garden. No, not for me. I just flop around on my verandah or under the cashew trees, moaning about the killing heat in Mumbai. But the little creatures that also call my garden "home" are busier than ever. They are everywhere that I look, doing their own thing and generally making my garden look like it is abuzz with activity. Sooner them than me!

For starters, the dragonflies are all over the place. Zipping and swirling around, sometimes solo but usually in a cloud. I love dragonflies! Seeing them in action makes me an ultra-happy person because they hunt mosquitoes.
Did I mention that all the foliage in my garden seems to attract every single mosquito for miles around?The garden of Eden had a snake to harass the residents, mine has mosquitoes. Which also means that it has some very happy dragonflies.

I love this extremely vibrant Dawn Dropwing dragonfly who put an old orchid bloom spike to good use. He kept perching on it, sticking his bright tail up in the air and fanning his wings open in a display that kept veiling and unveiling his fuchsia-purple body. The poor guy was obelisking to beat the heat!
To read more about this gorgeous dragonfly, check this out.

The damselflies are out too, even in my apartment garden. They're such delicate little wisps that one usually doesn't notice them until they rise up out of some plant that they were perched on. But don't let their size (or lack of it) fool you. They are just as efficient at hunting out mosquitoes, flies and insect pests. I've seen one gobbling up a beetle which looked much too large to fit into the damselfly's tummy!

Then there are the butterflies .... Oh my God! the butterflies! They're everywhere. Flitting, floating, frolicking ... I love this season for the butterflies . My Vinca rosea patch is seeing rush hour throughout the day.
By the way, did you notice the little damselfly watching the Common Wanderer butterfly? That's the same little guy in the second photo. He was almost glued to the spot for hours.

You would think that with a name like Grass Demon this butterfly would be huge and scary. But no, he's really quite small. What really is larger than life is that proboscis of his!

'Huge and scary' should probably go to describe the Giant Redeye butterfly! This butterfly feeding on the Spiderlilies isn't very big, but take a look at its big ruby-red eyes! How beautifully weird is that?

If you're looking for unconventional beauties, here's one for your list. The Buff Striped Keelback is quite a small, thin snake and is absolutely harmless. Every so often I find one zipping across my yard, hoping that no one will notice him. This one was racing across the roasting sunny areas and heading for the cool shade of the heliconias. Hopefully, he was after some garden pests but more probably, he had his eye on the little frogs which like to hang out there too.

He has no idea just how lucky he is to miss being spotted by our resident Pariah Kite!
The Pariah Kites are nesting again on the coconut tree and keep a strict watch on everything that is going on. This one swooped down for a quick sip and dip in the bird-bath. And of course, some crows landed up immediately too. Just to keep an eye on him, you know.

October is also the month when the migratory birds start trooping in. I found this Hoopoe scanning some of the overgrown grass ( a last remnant of the monsoon super-growth). A crow swooped by near him and up went his startled crest. Such fun!
By the way, doesn't he look like the Creator drew some sample scribbles on his back while trying to design the Zebra?

The season is changing. It is still as hot as ever during the day but now there is a cool nip in the air at night and I love the transitions it brings. I love this season for the unusual birds that show up and also for some of the more unusual blooms. Even on the foliage plants, like this Phyllanthus myrtifolius which is widely grown as a hedge or for topiaries. It is not one of my most favourite plants but in October I seriously re-think that opinion. Because that's when it transforms into a blooming beauty!