Last Sunday at Perumbakkam Wetland, besides the regular weekend birdwatchers, there were two groups, one consisting of families, including lisping four-year-olds in tow; and the other, school students led by teachers.
Children ought to be introduced to birdwatching, and by extension, conservation of bird habitats. With fledgling birdwatchers heavily in attendance that Sunday morning, the air was ringing with more conversations than usual, and most of them were punctuated with clearly audible exclamations.
One response to the hubbub — please note that I am using it in a positive sense here — was priceless, and it came from a perch. A birdwatching-friend had alerted me to the presence of a black-winged kite on the lamp-post, close to the toll Plaza, on Sholinganallur-Medavakkam Link Road which girdles one section of the wetland.
Not the least perturbed by the ripples of laughter and wonder below, this bird would however keep rubber-necking to watch the Sunday crowd with its owl-like eyes.
Though a couple of cameras, including mine, were directed at this bird of prey, it looked phlegmatic, and I was reminded of The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Though Hopkins’ sonnet was describing the power and majesty of a kestrel in flight, in the nonchalance of this black-winged kite, I could sense some of those regal qualities.
It’s a pity that the bird will never know how admired it was, that Sunday morning, when it was probably just concerned about its next meal, most likely a rodent. In India, especially in the rural and agricultural belts, this bird is a Pied-Piper of Hamelin, as it has a gargantuan taste for rodent flesh.
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While on the topic of majesty, of the ducks that winter in our parts, the northern pintail is clearly majestic in bearing. It stands probably an inch taller than the other ducks and the male of the species carries nice colours that are woven into eye-catching patterns. The highlight is the male’s stiff central tail feathers, from which the species derives its name.
There are a couple of high mounds of earth with profuse vegetation at the Perumbakkam Wetland that are clearly visible from Sholinganallur-Medavakkam Link Road. These mounds are generously used by dabbling ducks. With marked frequency, I have seen one of the two mounds being occupied almost exclusively by male northern pintail ducks. They would be at ease with each other, suggesting male bonding.
The male of the species are said to be on their best behaviour, except when it is time to raise a family (which will happen in a different clime after April). Even while vying for a nod from a female northern pintail, with elaborate displays that include their trademark lifting-of-the-chin, they are said to be restrained in their pugnacious behaviour.
So, I treasure an image I clicked of two male northern pintails squaring off against each other, for certainly some trivial reason.
This is a weekly column about the resident and winter-visiting birds of Chennai