Bird Watch: From canaries and fantails to flycatchers, check out the pretty little birds from Himalayas in Chandigarh

Come autumn and a large number of little birds start flitting down the slopes of the Himalayas on to the piedmont plains (foothills planes to the uninitiated). These little beings fly from deep inside the mighty mountains, their summer homes and breeding grounds, to winter in the parks, gardens and forested areas around Chandigarh on the foothill.

Unfortunately, for most of the citizens, ‘migratory bird’ means waterfowl that has flown in from ‘Siberia’ (I am sure you have heard that often!). But autumn and winter are replete with the birdsong of a different kind—the songs of altitudinal migrants that wing down their way from the mountain tops and valleys of the Himalayas.

White-browed fantail flycatcher.

Try walking to the Leisure Valley in Sector 10, and you will be greeted by a flock of tiny bright yellow birds with grey heads darting around hunting insects and singing their loud song “chit-chit-wicheee-chee”. You have just met the Grey-headed canary flycatcher. Walk a little further and sit on one of the benches. You will soon be joined by a black and red bird. It will hop around on the ground bowing and strutting, its tail in a constant shiver. That my friend is a black redstart which has flown down from Ladakh. Walk on a little further and you will see a little room built of stone. Stand near it you will soon hear a melody being whistled- Chuck-chuck-chweee-wee-wee-chuck”. Follow the sound and you will be greeted by a black little bird opening and closing its tail like a Japanese fan, all the time pirouetting like a ballerina on thin branches. This little performer is our white brown fantail, which flies in from the valleys of the greater Himalayas when they get snowed in.

Black Redstart

While you watch the fantail you might, from the corner of your eye, spy a blueish shape flit by. Look at it carefully and you may hear a high-pitched “ptittii- weu -petttiii- weu”. Look into the canopy and you will see the most turquoise of birds you have ever seen. That is your Verditer flycatcher, which has also flown in from the Himalayas to adorn the gardens of Chandigarh.

Verditer Flycatcher

There are many other little gems that fly in from the Himalayas. These gems that wing down the slopes of the Himalayas to escape the harsh winters infuse a special delight in our lives.

May you always hear the bird song!

The writer is the president of the Chandigarh Bird Club.