For the past 30-odd years, since I started living in the country, I have enjoyed the company of the many birds that visit our garden and backyard. Peafowl, a rarity in yesteryears, have now become our regular guests. Though hearing their calls in the early morning along with the usual avian chorus is thrilling, I wonder if their presence in domestic gardens indicates a loss of their natural forest habitat.
In the dry seasons, I keep earthen basins filled with water at different places in the garden. Birds and animals like squirrels and mongooses use it to quench their thirst. One day in the early evening, I looked out of the dining room window and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a black and blue bird dipping its head in a basin and taking dainty sips of water. It was an Asian fairy bluebird, which I have seen on only one other occasion in my garden in the past three decades. It is beautiful with red eyes and iridescent blue feathers on its head, back and wings. As I stood gazing at it happily, it flew off in a whirr of black and blue.
Hoping it would appear again, I sat at the window around the same time the next day, armed with my camera. And you guessed right. It did not show up. The next day, it suddenly appeared when I was least expecting it—at lunch time! Busy setting the table, I got excited and lost precious seconds when I reached for my phone instead of the camera that I had kept ready.
Finally, my fumbling fingers operated it and I was fortunate in being able to take one picture of the fairy before it flew away. After that I have been haunting the window in the hope of capturing the beauty with my camera. In the process, I have had the pleasure of watching other birds of my garden, like red-whiskered bulbuls, rufous treepies, jungle babblers and oriental magpie robins, drinking and bathing in the water. Watching a bird enjoying a cool refreshing bath is such a satisfaction for the soul.
Day after day, I wait in vain for the fairy bluebird to reappear. Feeling frustrated, I almost burst into the song: “Aaja re, pardesi...mein toh kab se khadi is paar” (Please come, stranger, I have been waiting here for so long).Then I console myself that it probably sports in the water, happily splashing when I am not at the window. After all, I cannot park myself at the window all day.