Birds are such an integral part of our surroundings. To see uncommon birds, exotic birds and migratory birds, one has to visit sanctuaries and distant locations to which birds migrate in winter. However right here around us in the city, and in the outskirts, there are atleast 40 or more varieties of birds that can be seen everyday if we open our eyes to them. Birds figure prominently in all aspects of human culture from religion to poetry to popular music. In our childhood, birds like the Haladi Basanta, Bhadbhadadia, Kumbhaatua etc. were very commonly seen in the trees in our homes. But now these birds have become reclusive due to the loss of green cover in the city and will now mostly be found a little far away in places where there are old trees with heavy thickets. And its years since I saw a sparrow in Bhubaneswar.
But there is nothing more relaxing and pleasurable in watching our backyard birds – their social behaviour, their nesting, their flight paths, their keen alertness towards human activity around them, and their feeding habits. And the best way to have more birds around in your vicinity is to keep water and feed for them – a bird bath with fresh water everyday, some bird feed that is available in pet shops, or fruits, nuts and seeds, and what has really worked wonders in my garden is a teaspoon of peanut butter that I place on the ledge everday!
