Three incidents I witnessed..
1. A few days back, I heard noisy screams coming from the wooded area behind the house and increasing in volume. The whole thing sounded quite desperate. Thinking that maybe a mongoose or even a crow had got hold of a smaller bird I ran out to help the victim. Aggressors--2 mynah birds, victim--one woodpecker! The pair would not let the woody go till I made a big noise.

2. On Sunday we were out near the backwaters. As I watched I saw a mynah bird with, of all things, a crow quill feather in it's beak. It looked really funny. Along came another one to try and snatch the feather. After much tugging, the feather fell down to the ground. The first mynah waited a bit till mynah no.2 decided to abandon the feather and then came down and flew off triumphantly with it.

3. Yesterday afternoon hearing a lot of noise at the front of the house I went to the window. 2 males/females were attacking each other with great vigour and one had the other pinned to the ground. So I went out to break it up. By the time I got out the mates of both got into the act and they started attacking each other, with the decibel climbing quite high. The 2 pairs of fighters were so engrossed in their fight and their screaming, that I had to go close to get them to leave each other and move off. Finally one pair flew off and the other pair walked around down. I swear I could hear muttering and cursing! The fighters--again mynah birds.
It's nesting season people!



Picture from wikimedia

Tagged by Geets

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE

Jodha Akbar.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING

'Conversations with God' by Neale Walsch

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME

Scrabble, Pictionary

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE

Good Housekeeping, Online webzines of all types

5. FAVORITE SMELLS

Fruit scents

6. FAVORITE SOUND(s)

The sound of the sea, call of the magpie robin

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD

Watching your child suffer.

8. THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?

Now what do I have to do?

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE

Dosa places—(there are only Indian fast food places here)

10. FUTURE CHILD’S NAME

Have one grandchild. No future name ideas, ‘cos it’ll be left to the parents to decide:)

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT: If I had a lot of money….

Probably travel, give away some to charity.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST

No way!

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL

No my husband does (called hillgrandmom)

14. STORMS COOL OR SCARY

Depends on the storm.

15. YOUR FIRST CAR

The first car I ever drove was a Fiat.

16. FAVORITE DRINK

Fruit juices

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT: If I had the time I would…..

I have all the time.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Well, broccoli is not something we see here, so the nearest would be cauliflower and that I do eat the stems of.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Silver

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ooty, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin, Kottayam

21. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH

Not a big sports enthusiast, but if at all, preferable gymnastics, snychro swimming or anything with dance like routines

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU

She’s really smart!

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

Dust bugs!!!

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

I don’t know. Depends on what my soul feels like then!

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL

Night owl totally.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP

If you mean how I like my eggs, any which way is fine. I LOVE EGGS

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX

If it’s in my house, then it’s in my room, by the window.

28. FAVORITE PIE

Apple pie, with lots of cinnamon.

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR

Real fruit flavoured ones.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED (with this)WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

Don’t tag anyone usually. So any one who wants to take up this tag!

The power of Now!
The power of the present,
Do you ever stop to think of it?
The very words I've written here,
Are now in my past.
I may rewrite the words,
Redo the rhythm;
But that moment is gone,
Never to return,
It's history.

But each moment that passes
Is only a physical ageing.
The moment in time is gone,
'Tis true I will never be younger,
By even a moment.
But, for the Me I am,
My inner me,
The Who I am,
The passing of each moment
Is a growth.
I can undo,
redo,
renew,
relearn
learn
and become more
of Who I am
Till my last living breath.

The many mahogany trees around are in bloom and the ground is covered with the the little star-like flowers. The scent in the evening and early mornings is heavenly!



A photo I was able to take a little while back. You can get an idea of how tiny the flowers are. Yet how much fragrance they release!

My computer is up and working again!! What a relief.

I realise I am truly lucky to live in and work in beautiful surroundings. Both around my house and the schools I work at, are many trees, full of the common birds of our part of the world. Yesterday and today, at school, while looking out at the trees I spied so many birds and felt so grateful to my Creator that I had the opportunity to see these creatures.
I am at present invigilating the mandatory school-leaving public exams. The hall in which the children write their exams is surrounded by many trees, which are full of bird life. Now that the unseasonal rains are over, the birds are out in large numbers. Yesterday, just before I left the hall at around 5 p.m. I spied a black-headed oriole and felt truly blest. The plumage is such a brilliant golden colour and the head so black as in the pictures I had put in this post . It was a beautiful sight. I also saw a pair of tree pies fighting for a piece of twig, really amusing!.


A treepie. The bird is an average size. The tail is long and very attractive.

Then today I spied a pair of green barbets eating the tiny fruit of some tree. There were a pair of magpie robins too, who had obviously built a nest somewhere nearby, because I had heard their sweet sounds every afternoon, during the examinations, for the past so many days.

A magpie robin. He's a small guy and has a really sweet warble.



Can you spy the barbet in among the leaves? This is the way I usually spy the bird, in my guava tree or on the cinnamon tree, when it comes to eat the fruit.
All of these are beautiful and I really feel lucky I get to see them almost on a daily basis.

(All the pictures are from wikimedia)

A couple of links:-
1. La Delirante asked me for the link to Obama's speech on race. Here is the link.....


2. Link no. 2 How we spent our Easter long weekend.

I listened to Senator Obama's speech yesterday. I thought it was a brilliant speech.
But then again, I don't live in the US and I don't have to vote and so I can just like the speech for what it was.