Birds 14 - Red Whiskered Bulbul Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

We have a compound
full of trees and shrubs
with flowers and fruit
spread around our house.

Every morning I wake up
to the melodious musical
rendition by birds numerous,
an experience beyond words!

One morning, at the first rays of sun
as I got out of the house
to pick up my newspapers,
I was stopped by the melody of a call
"pleased to meet you"!

Hearing the bird call familiar
looked up at the roof of the porch,
on the hanging light overhead
I noticed her "double head",

where she had built her nest
far from the reach of Pest,
my pet cat and had laid eggs,
and now sitting in incubation.

Red Whiskered Bulbul
has a tall pointed black crest,
red face patch like whiskers
and a thin black moustachial line.

Common in the plains of Kerala,
this bulbul has brown upper-parts
whitish underparts with buff flanks
a dark spur running onto the breast.

A frugivore, the bulbul likes
to inhabit close to human habitats
often nests on the roof and trees
feed on fruits, insects and nectar.

In just ten days or so
the eggs will hatch and
with tiny bundles of joy
the nest will be adorned,

another fortnight,
the chicks will fly off,
she will not stay back
in the nest any longer.