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The older generations always talk excitedly while describing the various birds that used to visit their homes and the number of birds they used to find chirping around. In Metropolitan cities, there was a widespread presence of many birds who used to often pay your balcony a visit or wake you up with a song. Our parents’ faces light up reminiscing about the sparrows in their verandah.
However, it has been increasingly difficult to spot a beautiful feather in the highly commercialised climate of cities. The most you see are pigeons, which after a while do lose their charm. The birds of India are rare, beautiful and a sight for the sore eyes. These creatures cannot be missed if you look hard enough.
I. The Great Spotted Woodpecker
This bird has a striking colour contrast of black and white along with a distinguishable spring ‘drumming’ display. In addition to spending most of its time on tree trunks, it maintains a secretive aura by hiding from observers. The way to differentiate between a male and a female spotted woodpecker is to spot the red patch on the back for the male and the red crown for the female.
These beautiful creatures can only be found in tiny fragments in Nagaland and Manipur. Kiphire in Naga hills is said to be the most common place to spot a Great Spotted Woodpecker
II. The Sind Woodpecker
Another monochrome woodpecker in all its glory, the Sind Woodpecker has big white shoulder patches with white bars on its black back. A comparatively smaller bird with a thin moustache, it inhibits dry and open woodlands. It can be recognised by the squeaky sounds made by it in the form of a trill and a ‘kwik’.
This bird can be found in the vestigial patch of north-eastern Rajasthan in the Jaisalmer district. Although previously spotted in southwestern Haryana, the bird however in all probability does not regularly situate itself there due to the lack of sightings in the past years.
III. The Blue Indian Roller
A blue divinity, the Blue Indian Roller, commonly known as the Blue Jay or Neelkanth is a bird adorned by various shaded of blue from wings to the belly. With longitudinal streaks of white across the throat and breast, the bird is generally silent yet vocalises more during the breeding season. Neelkanth is regarded as one of the most beautiful birds in India and holds religious importance for Hindus.
A lover of open areas and agricultural landscapes, the bird can be easily found across the roadside trees, scrub forests and open grasslands in almost any village.
IV. The Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater
As elegant and slender as one could be, the Blue-Tailed Bee-eater is an overall green with a blue tail, thin black mask, elongated feathers, yellowish upper throat and a rufous throat. Gifted with a distinctive shape of broad and sharply pointed wings, a long tail and long bill, it nests in sandbanks. As evident from their name, bees wasps and hornets are their staple diet and they are well versed in catching their prey in the open air.
A migratory species of birds in India, they prefer open country spaces like cultivated fields or open forest areas. Found in South India, this bird is endemic to Chandgala, a village on the banks of River Cauvery and close to the historic town of Srirangapatna in the Mandya district.
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