On my walk to day morning, two things happened. A crow scared the bejeezus out of me and I saw a white-cheeked barbet at close quarters.

First the crow. I was walking close to the half wall around the property when a crow flew up, probably with the intention of sitting on the wall, from the other side which is at a lower level. Between the two of us I do not know who was shocked more. Just as I hadn’t expected the crow to come flying out of nowhere at me, I am sure the crow also did not expect to find me so close to where it was about to alight.

I recoiled in horror seeing out of the corner of my eye a black object come right at me. The crow, unlike me, had a more frontal view of things, but was equally shocked and sprang back in horror. Okay, so what if it is my imagination that the crow was shocked? I am after all a writer of stories. I am allowed some imagination. I am also allowed to put words into the mouths of not just characters of my story but the denizens of the world, both living and non-living. But that’s not relevant here. So…

Anyway having simultaneously jumped out of our skins, the crow and I stepped right back into our respective skins and went on our separate ways. In the case of the crow it was the branch of the rose apple tree standing next to the wall to think and put things into perspective, and as for me it was to complete the rest of my circles around the apartment block hoping that no further surprises awaited me.

And now the white-checked barbet. White-cheeked barbets, also called small green barbets, are cute thingamabobs. The problem about them is that they are shy. Add to this the fact that they are green and sit still, it becomes doubly hard to spot them. Yet I have caught them quite a few times on camera. They are suckers for papayas and having had a tree in my backyard in my old home, I have been lucky to have clicked them without hindrance. It helps that the leaves of the papaya tree do not cluster together, offering a better view of birds that come to feast on its fruit.

There are no papaya trees where I stay now. So I haven’t caught the white cheeked barbets out in the open though I regularly hear their call. Kot-roo Kotroo. They stay hidden in the canopy of the big trees, merging with the leaves, hidden from prying human eyes. Today morning though was different. On the branch of the rose apple tree, with no leaves hindering my view was perched a barbet. So close, at the most it was just two feet away.

It helped that the tree was growing on a lower level of ground. The branch was in level with my eye and offered me an excellent view. I felt I could stretch my hand and touch the bird. I stood still wondering. Dare I take my phone out of my pocket and click? No. Any movement on my part would only alarm the bird. Forget about focusing with the phone, even a slight movement of my hand was enough to scare it. Just feast your eyes, Shail! I told myself.

Sigh. A couple of seconds was all I got. The bird had noticed me in spite of my not having moved. It quickly dived into the interior of the tree, to hide between the closely growing leaves and was lost to me. But never mind, I had got a good look. My morning was made.

And just like that I come to the end of my rambling days. It has been fun writing and wonderful having you read. Thank you! 🙂

©️ Shail Mohan 2024