House Sparrow

The Indian House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus Indicus) belongs to the Passeridae family and is common in urban areas and human settlements. They are small passerines with short and heavy bills and strong legs, who hop to move about on the ground. They do not possess a true song and instead communicate with chirps. The female is dull and pale in comparison to the male. 

This bird, which is the most common avian in India, is known as Adaikalang Kuruvi in Tamil. Its size is the same as the Bulbul.

Male of species

The plumage of the House Sparrow is mostly different shades of grey and brown. The female is mostly buff above and below, while the male has boldly coloured head markings, a reddish back, and grey underparts. The male also has a dark grey crown from the top of its bill to its back, and chestnut brown flanking its crown on the sides of its head. The female has no black markings or grey crown. Its upperparts and head are brown with darker streaks around the mantle and a distinct pale supercilium. Its underparts are pale grey-brown. The female's bill is brownish-grey, and becomes darker in breeding plumage, approaching the black of the male's bill. 

Male House Sparrow

This bird is very social. It is gregarious at all seasons when feeding, often forming flocks with other types of bird. It roosts communally, and its nests are usually grouped together in clumps, and it engages in social activities such as dust and water bathing, and "social singing", in which birds call together in bushes. 

Birds taking a communal bath

Nesting season lasts practically throughout the year. With the most favoured months varying with locality. Its nest is a collection of straw, rubbish and feathers in a hole in ceiling, niche in a wall, an inverted lamp shade—and every conceivable site, within or without any occupied building. Its clutch usually ranges from 3 to 5 eggs, that are pale greenish white stippled and blotched with brown. Several successive broods are often raised. 

Large clutch of 7 eggs

The House Sparrow is monogamous with both the male and female helping in nesting activities, which are normally found in small crevices of traditional Indian homes, ground, banks and sometimes in trees. 

Female with different markings feeding young

The House Sparrow is believed to have been closely associated with people for around 10,000 years. This bird is inseparable from human habitations. It is a confirmed hanger-on with man, in hills and plains alike, whether in a bustling noisy city or outlying forest hamlet.

It is an omnivore and its food is comprised of; grain, insects, fruit buds, flower nectar and kitchen scraps. This bird sometimes collects in enormous flocks and does damage to ripening crops and in market gardens. In common with many other birds, the House Sparrow requires grit to digest the hard seeds it eats. Grit can be either stone, often grains of masonry, or the shells of eggs or snails; oblong and rough grains are preferred. 

Juvenile with pink bill and nestling gape—the soft, swollen base becomes harder and less swollen as the bird matures

Below is an eloquent narrative on the House Sparrow by Baljit Singh which originally appeared at this link here. 

The House Sparrow 

“A bit of cereal, the right kind of garden hedge or even just a nesting box are all that it will take to protect a bird that lives alongside humans but is fast disappearing. 

In the midst of much informed and universal concern about the future of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), one of man’s oldest living commensals, there is a ray of hope yet. For, returning home on the first sun-drenched mid-morning of January 2013, I experienced the heart-stopping moment of seeing 23 house sparrows, basking in the warmth of the sun! Given a conducive habitat, all other side effects of modern day life-styles notwithstanding, the house sparrow should be the last of all to wander off the living planet. 

The house sparrow is a sober-looking bird with a ubiquitous spread — from Leh in the North to Cape Comorin in the South and from the Somnath Temple in the West to the Camorta Island in the East. With that kind of a presence, we should be able to spot them anywhere. Ornithologist Salim Ali had labelled them as “man’s hanger-on” for they are known to enter homes nonchalantly, chattering non-stop as they set about arranging their personal living comfort by adding heaps of straw to any potential nest-site, quite unmindful of the householder’s presence. 

New lifestyles to blame 

But today, most Indians would perhaps know this bird only through photographs. Not even two out of 10 may be able to lay claim to having seen the bird in the outdoors. So why do so few of us encounter the bird despite its worldwide spread? As the bird lives only among humans, it’s not about disappearing forests, but about the pollution around us, including from communication towers, the use of steel and glass in our buildings that has reduced the availability of nesting sites and food, and, where there are gardens, the partiality for exotic rather than indigenous vegetation. 

This shift to new lifestyles, even in rural communities, is at severe conflict with the house sparrow’s basic existential needs. In China, the house sparrow was exterminated by about the end of the 1960s after being declared the number one crop pest. On the other hand, that very “pest number one” became the angel of progress in America and Australia where it was not native but consciously introduced for pest control in agriculture, to cut down the reliance on chemical alternatives. With time, the house sparrow came to be equivocally feted in both continents. Today, the bird figures high in their avian literature and is much cherished. 

Coming back to the large number of resident house sparrows at our home in Chandigarh, there are two contributing factors. One is that my wife has always spread abundant food on the rooftop, every morning. Coupled with that is the availability of secure roosting and nesting niches by way of thick, tall hedges on two sides of the house. Of course, there is natural predation of fledglings by crows and by an odd Shikra (a hawk sub-species) but the house sparrow is a sturdy breeder raising three broods of two to five chicks, thrice each year. So the population does not merely “hold” at the optimum survival figure for the given area at our home but also feeds the neighbourhood. As simple as that! 

No description of the bird will be complete without a mention of the strong streak of tenacity in its character. And here I can do no better than quote the master, Edward Hamilton Aitken (born in Satara, Maharashtra, in the mid-19th century to Scottish parents) from his book “Common Birds of Bombay” (1900): “And when a Sparrow makes up its mind nothing will unmake it except the annihilation of that Sparrow. Its faithful spouse is always, and very strongly, of the same mind. So they set to work to make a hole in the corner of the ceiling-cloth and they tear and tug with an energy which leaves no room for failure. Then they begin to fetch hay and the quantities which a couple will carry in a day is miraculous…. I declare solemnly that you might have fed a horse on the hay which I removed daily as most of it tumbled down….” 

Much like most bird species the house sparrow is highly adaptable. Even though its traditional wilderness has been usurped and its living niche inside man’s once mud-and-thatch dwelling replaced with glass and concrete, the house sparrow could well be the last on this living-planet if mankind were to spare just one hundredth of its cereal intake for the bird and make space for it around homes, where possible by planting indigenous hedges, and if there is no garden, by simply providing a nesting box. That’s not too much to ask.” 

[Baljit Singh]

 ***************************************

There seem to be an equal number of friends and foes to the House Sparrow. Some see the birds' value in ecology as a natural answer to pest reduction, and others, more so in the Western World, view them as pests to be eliminated. For those "friends" to the House Sparrow, here is a nice link about how to purchase and order small, inexpensive homes for the House Sparrow. 

Red Vented Bulbul

The Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus Cafer, Tamil: Kondai Kuruvil) is a member of the Bulbul family of Passerines. It is a resident breeder across India and found throughout Tiruvannamalai District. 

Beautiful Crested Head

Bulbuls are birds of graceful form and movement, their wings are short but broad and their tails are long and nearly even at the tip, instead of being forked or tapering as it usually the case with longish tails. Their bills are rather slight than stout and of moderate length; their legs are short. 

Eating Flower Nectar

The Red Vented is a largish bird as Bulbuls go, being about nine inches long. Its very picturesque in appearance, with a full black crest and black tail tipped with white (which is more noticeable during flight) and a crimson one below. It has scale-like markings on its beak and back. Sexes are alike in colouration, but young birds are duller than adults. 

This bird has no song as such and instead makes short, joyous notes. It calls throughout the year and has a number of distinct call types for roosting, flight, greeting etc. Its alarm call is usually responded to and heeded by many other bird species. 

Bulbul Preening

 Video of two adults feeding chick

This is a bird of dry scrub, open forest, plains and cultivated lands. It is a common visitor to gardens. Large numbers of his bird collect to feed on Banyan and Peepul figs and winged termite swarms. 

Bulbul cooling off

Red-vented Bulbuls feed on fruits, petals of flowers, nectar, insects and occasionally geckos. They have also been seen feeding on vegetables and the leaves of certain trees (e.g. Medicago Sativa). This bird is an important disperser of seed of plants such as Carissa Spinarum. 

Two Adults Grooming each other

Red-vented Bulbuls build their nests in bushes or tree cavities at a height of around 2–3 m (7–10 ft). Nests are occasionally built inside houses or in a hole in a mud bank. The nest is usually a cup of rootlets, sometimes plastered outside with cobwebs. Two or three eggs is a typical clutch and this bird is  capable of multiple clutches a year. Their eggs are pale-pinkish white with spots of purplish brown. The eggs hatch after about 14 days and both parents feed the chicks. The Pied Crested Cuckoo is a brood parasite of this species. 

Bulbul Eggs in Nest

In 19th Century India these birds were frequently kept as cage pets and for fighting especially in Karnataka. The bird would be held on the finger with a thread attached around its middle and when they fought they would seize the red feathers of its opponents. 

Newly Hatched Chick in Nest

Asian Koel

The Koel called Kokil in Bengali, is the commonest and most familiar of Indian Cuckoos and is found in Tiruvannamalai District as well as the rest of India. 

Handsome Male Koel

Cuckoos are found all over the world, but are not numerous in species except in warm regions. They have slightly curved bills of moderate size, with conspicuous nostrils set low down and near the edge of the upper chap, and their toes are in two pairs, the outer front toe being turned backwards, as in Woodpeckers and Barbets. Tree-Cuckoos, which, in the East at all events, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, have long wings and short legs, while Bush-Cuckoos, which always bring up their own young, have short wings and long legs suited for running; the Tree-Cuckoos on the rare occasions when they come to the ground, being only able to hop. Cuckoos usually have long rounded tails, and are very readily recognizable when a few have been seen. 

Close up of Male Koel

Cuckoos have peculiar notes and are generally more heard than seen. They generally feed on insects, and are exceedingly useful birds. Only in India are any Cuckoos commonly kept as cage-birds, they are not hard to rear, but require hand-feeding for a longer time than other birds. 

The Koel is about as big as a large pigeon, with a long rounded tail; its whole length being nearly a foot and a half, it measures 39–46 cm (15–18 in) and weighs 190–327 g (6.7–11.5 oz). It has a peculiar steady level flight which makes it easily recognizable. 

Male Koel

The cock and hen differ absolutely in colour, the former being a glossy blue-black, while the latter is brown, spotted with white on the head and back, and barred with that colour on the wings, tail and under parts; altogether she rather reminds one of a hen pheasant in colour. Both male and female have pale green bills, bright red eyes and lead-coloured feet. Young birds have black bills and grey eyes; in plumage they resemble adults of the corresponding sex, but not completely, young cocks being usually slightly marked with buff, and young hens having the head and top of the neck black. But there appears to be some variation, so that young cocks may be found in female plumage and vice versa. 

 Video of the song of the Koel

The Asian Koel is omnivorous, consuming a variety of insects, caterpillars, eggs and small vertebrates. However the adult bird feeds mainly on fruit. They will sometimes defend fruiting trees that they forage in and chase away other frugivores. They have been noted to be especially important in the dispersal of the sandalwood tree in India. Large seeded fruits are sometimes quickly regurgitated near the parent tree while small seeded fruits are ingested and are likely to be deposited at greater distances from the parent tree. They have a large gape and are capable of swallowing large fruits including the hard fruit of palms. 

Female Koel with distinctive colouring

This bird is much beloved by indigenous locals who admire the bird’s fine mellow call and it is with them quite a bird of romance with its glossy black plumage. The Koel deserves consideration from all, not only on account of its beauty and musical capacities, but for being one of the very few creatures which scores off the Crows, those birds being the foster-parents which it selects for its young. 

Beautiful photograph of male and female eating

The Asian Koel is a brood parasite and lays its egg in the nests of a variety of birds, including both the Jungle Crow and the House Crow, but the House Crow is the usual victim and the egg of the Koel is a miniature of a Crow's egg, being about an inch long, and green with brown spots. 

House Crow at its Nest

Sometimes two Koels' eggs may be found in one Crow's nest, and at times the big black Jungle-Crow has to do parental duty for the Koel. The most curious thing about the whole business is that the Crows, although they bring up the young Koel and feed it even after it has left the nest, yet evidently know there is something wrong, for they cherish a lively prejudice against the old Koels and hunt any Koel they can to death if they get the chance 

Koels breed from March to July, and at this time the call whence is derived its Hindustani name ''ko-eel ko-eel'' running up the scale, is one of the characteristic sounds of the country. Unfortunately the bird insists on calling at night as well as by day, and is rather apt at all times to be "instant out of season;'' whence thus many call the Koel, the Brain-fever Bird, and detest it accordingly. 

[Narrative taken from book by Frank Finn]

Common Babbler -- Passerine

I earlier made a posting on the Common Babbler, but am including below an extract from a book by Frank Finn 1902, entitled “Garden and Aviary Birds of India.” Frank Finn was part of the British Colonial Service and a dedicated amateur ornithologist. There are many parts of his book, now out-of-print which have an unusual and fresh viewpoint towards birds we are normally quite familiar with here in India.

His chapters on aviary birds and the description of interspecies relationships, sometimes good – and sometimes very bad, are fascinating, and I hope to include more extracts from his book in later postings. But to begin with his chapter on the Passerine, Common Babbler:

The Passerines

"More than half of the known species of birds belong to the great Passerine order, so called from the Latin name of its most prominent member, Passer, the Sparrow. Birds of this order are usually small, the Raven being the biggest, while some are almost the smallest of birds. The Sparrow and Mynah represent fair average sizes of Passerine birds.

They can always be distinguished by their feet: the foot of a Sparrow or Crow will serve as a model for all. The shank is slight and covered behind with long entire plates, and before with a single row of large broad scales, or even with one continuous horny plate; there are three toes before, unconnected by any web or other junction and one behind, which, taking it with its claw, is as big as or bigger than any of the rest.

The shank may be long or short, and the foot as a whole large or small as compared with the bird's body, but the style of scaling and proportion of the toes is always unmistakable. The shape, and the wings, tail and beak vary a great deal in Passerine birds; but they always have large heads in proportion to their size.

Their young are always hatched blind, helpless, and naked or nearly so; their nests are usually in a bush or tree, and they live in pairs in the breeding season. They are the most skilful nest-builders of all birds, and the only ones which are commonly accounted songsters. They bear captivity well, but are not so easy to breed in that state as some groups of birds.

The order is divided into many families, which are not always easy to distinguish, as there are many connecting links. One of the families is the Babbler. Which form the most numerous group of Indian birds and are, of all the smaller fry the most interesting in my opinion, whether at large or in the aviary.

The Common Babbler

They vary a good deal in size, but there is something about their general style which marks them off at once when seen in life, though, as skins in a museum collection, they are not so easy to separate. They have very short rounded wings, and rather long tails. As a rule their plumage is lax and fluffy, not close and sleek, and their legs and feet are strong, not to say coarse. Their bills are moderate in size; not actually slender, but not thick like a Crow's.

Common Babbler Feeding

Common Babbler in Tree

Common Babbler Calling

They usually go about in parties, and have a weak flight, never going far at a time, and often whining and skimming alternately, like Partridges. They feed mostly on insects, and take hold of their food in one foot, if they wish to break it up. On trees or on the ground they are very active, moving about by long hops, for very few of them run. Males and females are alike in colour, and the young resemble them. They are very affectionate and constantly caress each other with their bills.

Affection Babblers in Tree

Common Babbler Preening

THE SAT-BHAI (Crateropus Canorus), is the most familiar of the larger Babblers, the native name, which of course means seven brothers, having been practically accepted as English. I have not thought it necessary to figure this common bird; everyone must have noticed it, with its pale-drab, dust-coloured plumage, cunning-looking white eyes, and sickly-white legs and bill. It is found all over India in the plains and low down in the hills, and comes freely into gardens, making its presence known obtrusively by a squeaky babbling varied by hysterical outbursts.

Common Babbler Nest and Eggs

In confinement it is very easy to tame, will eat table craps readily and is amusing for a time; but nobody would want to keep such a frowsy unmusical creature for long. Interesting as its habits undoubtedly are. Birds which I turned out after studying them for some time remained so tame that they would still take food from the hand; and I imagine that a hand-reared one would make a very nice pet. The nest is an open cup-shaped one, placed low down and the eggs are of a most lovely blue."

Adult Common Babbler Feeding Young

Local Bird Artist

The artist in the below paintings is Kumar, who is an expert of birds found in Tiruvannamalai District. He has already painted many of the birds spotted locally and which are on exhibit in the gardens of the Mountain of Medicine, a few minutes walk from Ramana Ashram and located across from the Local Arts College. 

In the above painting, the bird on the left is the Little Stint, in the centre the Black Winged Stilt and to the right, the Sandpiper.

One of his completed and labelled paintings below showcases the: Blue-Winged Leafbird, the Golden Fronted Leafbird and the India Pitta.

Spotted Eagle

I have not made any postings of the birds listed above, as I only write about birds after I have viewed them personally. Already over 150 birds have been listed by official bird watchers as being spotted in this area, so the postings on Arunachala Birds will develop incrementally with my own sightings. However invite information, photographs and personal reminiscences from bird watchers in this area. 

Do visit the gardens of Mountain of Medicine when next in this area, the paintings and information about local birds and other wildlife is fascinating -- a perfect days outing, specially for the young at heart!

Asian Palm Swift

The Asian Palm Swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis) is a small swift the size of a Swallow. It is a common resident in Tiruvannamalai District where there is a profusion of palm trees. 

Bow like wings, with tail held closed

The Palm Swift is only a little less in length than the House Swift, but is really a much smaller bird, being more slender, with a fairly long and well forked tail; in colour it is drab without any conspicuous markings. It has a narrow deeply forked tail and long slender bow-like wings. The tail is usually held closed but the fork is particularly noticeable when the bird wheels or banks in flight. 

Bird of the open skies

These Swifts spend most of the day hawking tiny winged insects in the vicinity of the palms where it roosts. When in the air it turns and twists to the accompaniment of a loud, shrill joyous triple note ti-ti-tee. Asian Palm Swifts often feed near the ground, and drink on the wing. 

Feeds and drinks in the air

This bird of open country and cultivation is associated with the fan or toddy palm as the rigid folds and furrows of the palm leaves provides the bird with suitable roosting and nesting sites. Its nest is a tiny half-saucer of feathers and vegetable down agglutinated with the bird’s saliva, and attached in a fold on the underside of a tad palm leaf. The bird’s saliva is also used to secure the eggs. This species of Swift generally lays 2 or 3, pure white long pointed oval eggs. 

Notice the Swift's sharp right claw

Sexes are similar, and young birds differ mainly with a shorter tails. The Asian Palm Swift has very short legs which it uses only for clinging to vertical surfaces, since swifts never settle voluntarily on the ground. 

Young nestlings in fronds of Palm Leaf

The Swift has only ten tail feathers and its first toe is not directed backwards as in Swallows, instead all its four toes spread out like the finger on a hand, falling into right and left pairs. The Asian Palm Swift does not perch or walk, but can cling and climb well as its claws are very strong and sharp. 

Feeding its young

Purple Rumped Sunbird

The Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) is common in Tiruvannamalai District. This species is found in a variety of habitats with trees, including scrub and cultivation and is usually absent from dense forest. Males are brightly coloured but females are olive above and yellow to buff below. Their call is ptsiee ptsit, ptsiee ptsswit or a sharp twittering tityou, titou, trrrtit, tityou. I currently have a number of these beautiful birds visiting my garden and its in bloom Coral Tree.

Male Sunbird

The Purple-rumped Sunbird is small in size, and feeds mainly on nectar, sometimes taking insects, particularly when feeding young. They can hover for short durations but usually perch to feed. When the flowers are too deep to probe, they sometimes pierce the base of the flower and rob the nectar. It has been noted that they maintain special scratching posts, where they get rid of pollen and nectar sticking to their head 

Male Sunbird with Distinctive Colouring

Duller Female Sunbird in Flight

Female Preening

Female Sunbird constructing nest

This bird breeds through the year and may have two broods. Its nest is made up of fine plant fibres and lined with soft fibres from seeds of the Calotropis, cobwebs and is studded on the exterior with lichens, bark pieces, flying seeds and other materials. The nest is constructed by the female alone although the male may fly alongside her. The nest is placed on the end of branch and the entrance usually faces a bush. Nests may sometimes be built close to buildings or under open porches.

Video of female Purple Rumped Sunbird feeding chicks

The clutch consists of usually two eggs which are oval pale greenish and white with spots and streaks becoming more dense at the broad end. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female. The chicks fledge in about 17 days and continue to be fed by the male for a few days. Old nests are sometimes reused. Nests are sometimes parasitised by the Grey-bellied Cuckoo.

The Purple-rumped Sunbird may indulge in dew-bathing, or bathing by sliding in drops of rain collected on large leaves. Sunbirds are a confusing species with overlapping range. To learn more about the differences between the types of beautiful Sunbirds go to this link here. 

Male Sunbird on Feeding Duty

Immature male Sunbird

Signature Spider

The Signature Spider (Argiope Anasuja) is also known as the Writing Spider and the Garden Spider. It is commonly found in India often in one’s garden or backyard. Recently someone visiting my house mentioned that I had a signature spider at my front door. I went to look and was so interested by the zigzag pattern on its web which gives it the name “Signature Spider” that I checked the internet to learn more.

This spider is found all over the world. There are around 75 known different species, and although different in colouration each species shares the same distinctive striping on its body. The Signature Spider builds its web close to the ground in order to catch low flying insects such as bees and wasps that travel from flower to flower and is able to eat insects twice its size. This spider’s web is almost invisible except for zigzag stripes on the web. These zigzag stripes are known as the “stabilmentum".

When the web is built the signature spider lines up its legs with the white stripes of the zigzag. The centre of the web is hollow and this is where the spider sits. It groups its legs together to appear as a four legged creature but also when its legs are together, the hairs on the legs intertwine and act as a sun reflector along with the bright flower. white X in its web. The spider’s legs reflect the sun and its brightly coloured body dupes insects into thinking it is a flower.

 

The male (which is smaller than the female), spins a web alongside the female’s web known as a companion web, after mating the female will kill the male and then lay her eggs onto this companion web and wrap them up into a sac. This sac can hold from 400 to 1,400 egg. The eggs hatch in the autumn but they remain locked inside until spring. Spiders are cannibals and they eat each other to stay alive in the sac until they are strong enough to break through the sac walls. 

The venom of the Signature Spider is harmless to humans. It is used throughout the world for therapeutic medical agents and as an ingredient in beauty products.

Large Grey Babbler

The Large Grey Babbler (Turdoides malcolmi) is common throughout the Arunachala area. This bird habituates the Arunachala Samudra area as well as scrub, open forest and garden land throughout the Tiruvannamalai District. The Large Grey Babbler is usually seen in small groups and is easily distinguished from other babblers in the region by its nasal call.

This bird is pale grey-brown, with grey forehead. Its tail is long and graduated with white outer feathers which are very conspicuous in flight and when the tail is spread. It is one of the largest babblers in the region.

This species is found in small flocks which keep in contact with loud nasal calls. Its call, is loud and discordant, crying: kay, kay, kay, kay monotonously which is repeated by several individuals at the same time. Members of the flock may join in defending against predators. Individuals may also mob their own reflections.

This bird forages on or close to the ground, hopping and leaping in search of prey. It feeds mainly on insects but also feed on small lizards, molluscs and arachnids, and also feeds on seeds, grains and berries.

The Large Grey Babbler nesting season is irregular, but it believed to be more or less throughout the year. The usual clutch is four eggs. The nest is a shallow cup placed in a shrub often of thorny species. Their nests are parasitized by the Pied Cuckoo and the Common Hawk-Cuckoo.

Below is a video of a Large Grey Babbler feeding a Common Hawk-Cuckoo who she thinks is her offspring, but is a result of the nest being earlier parazitized by the Mother Common Hawk-Cuckoo.