Spotting the Hijol tree and some 21 avians








 Life has been rather bleak this week. So when the invitation to join a women's birder group to an early morning walk at a small park on Loudon Street called Nature Study Park came, I jumped at it. My DSLR has recently been repaired and I couldn't wait to use it. Its a Nikon D5100 with a lens range from 18 to 200. 

Early at six, the small park was full of morning walkers. Some sat at the benches and played kirtans and bhajans. A fountain in the middle of the pond that dominates the park completes the picture of a man-made beautification drive of an otherwise nature's bounty. The sides of the pond have been concretised with one end having a wooden deck. Yet, despite these interventions, the avian species make the place their home as bird calls obliterate the taped devotional music. 

An All Women's Nature Walk group has been doing the rounds of the city's green zones spotting birds, bees, trees and in general all non-human species that give them plenty of joy. I got pulled into this group during the time of the RG Kar protest when an all women's nature walk made me curious. This is a group of naturalists from all walks of life who spend some time marveling at nature. Yes, there is still some sanity left in this city.



So early in the morning we treated ourselves to some fresh air and a variety of bird calls. There's a Little Cormorant there, that's a White Breasted Kingfisher, look at its brilliant blue plume against its white breast. A fruit laden jackfruit tree made us gawk and talk about enchor and its various recipes. The find of the day was a hijol tree or the Barringtonia acutangula. Its green canopy is interspersed with these hanging flower buds that open up into wispy red flowers that filled the wooden deck and spread some more into the pond and the flowering embankment too. Jibanananda Das refers to Hijol in his Banglar rup ami dekhiyachi.  

An old mango tree, a tree with leaves like the debdaru hosted a number of the yellow footed green pigeons. "The Taiga flycatcher is a surprise. It will probably migrate soon as the summer heat rises," said Chai Eng Law, the convenor of the Calcutta chapter of AWNW.  the Black-naped Oriole too surprised the experienced birder. 





A total of 24 species were observed in a small park in the heart of south Calcutta. The calls of the Coppersmith Barbets made us stop on our tracks and as we peered up, we found the bird perched atop a tall palm tree. including the Rock Pigeon, Coppersmith Barbets, Lineated Barbets, Black-rumped Flameback, Rufous Treepie ...

In a small area, the park is home to so many these species. 


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