As We Flew Over the Sparrows Nest

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As we Flew over

The Sparrows Nest

A Pictory bySubramanyam & Sowjanya Vishnubhotla

Mar 2012

Contributed toThe World Sparrow Day

20th March


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A Day in the Life of a SparrowIt was a pleasant afternoon on our vacation at Port Blair, we return from a visit to thesome of the best beaches in the world and sat down for our late lunch at the Nico Bar*.

Cool breeze blowing from the sea and the sounds of the waves lashing on an abandonedconcrete structure opposite the resort, setup an ideal setting for sipping a chilledKingfisher and/or fresh coconut water to quench the thirst and add to the spirit.

An audio visual scan of the venue revealed the wonderful ambiance as my ears tuned tosparrows chirping in two distinct tones.

As tweets resonated between the sparrow and the response heard from nowhere as anechoamused, I continued to keep an eye on the sparrow, while I ordered a KF for

myself and fresh coconut water for my daughter.

What we experienced that afternoon is one of the most memorable spectacles of ourlivesspell bound we started shootingwith our Canon and Sony.

* Nico Bar is the name of the Bar at ITC Fortune Bay Resort in Port Blair.


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Here comes the story(sit back and enjoy)

It took a while (and a few sips and bites) to realize that the sparrow wastargeting her signals towards an electrical junction box which also

housed a CFL lamp.

From inside the small aperture on the box were high pitched responses tothe sparrows tweet from outside a few yards away.

In a flash, the sparrow dived only to rise again and land on the ledge ofthe small cut out of the electrical junction box.

Balancing itself while taking support with its tail touching the lamp, thesparrow show cased her life to the awestruck amateur

photographers.


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From the aperturepops out the head of theurchin inviting its mom

and its mother respondsinstantaneously landing

on the sharp edge of the18 gauge or so thin sheetmetal boxwhat we sawnext was even splendid


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The eye contact is made

and the communicationcontinued with the babyopening it mouth as wide

as it can


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The mouth widensfurther while the mom

still has its beak shuttightly as it cranes itsneck towards the

outstretched beak ofits babythe process offood transfer had taken

placeI guess our jawswere open too watching

this melodrama


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In a flash the mom transfers thefood mouth to mouth, balancing

itself all through

the birds eyes might havebeen closed as the blissful

transaction between the hungrylittle one and its parentmy eyes

were certainly wide open andmoist with the love and affectiondemonstrated by the motherbut

there is more to come.


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While all this is happening, wesaw another beak popping

outthe sparrow has TWINSand hence two mouths to

feedtwo little hungry birdsto be fed at one shotthe

mother looks at the scenarioas if to decide which one to

feed first ?

As the saying goesthe cryingbaby gets the milkbut if

there are two equallyvociferous crying babies ??

Who gets the food first ???

The mother is not perplexed Ireckoned, as she knows how to

handle it all


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She seems to tell the firstonehey you had your quota, now

let me feed your brotherthebrother waits onthinking if it is

First Come First Fed ? Then Ishould pop my head out first nexttime ?It was very amusing for usbut the reality is that the mother

had to plan food for both in oneshotshe does it veryprofessionallymeeting itsCustomers expectations

splendidly..

Ps (7.47 AM 17th March 2012): As I do this presentation, I hear sparrows chirping as if itis resonating from my vacation spot and was about to dispose off the ideabut to myutter disbelief, I see two sparrows land on the bird feeder I hung outside my balconyI Thanked God for connecting me to these wonderful species again and got back to thepresentation as they flew off happily and I am positive they will returnfor such is my connectwith them since my early childhoodoh ! how I wish that everyday in my life were a Saturday and Iget to sit and do something as exciting and exploratory as thisThank You God for giving me this Life

give me the ability to leave this world which will be better that what I got as I landed !!! Amen !!!Making sure the new heirs do not say Ahhh Menthey had fun all their lives and ruined my Party/Planet !!!


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Having satiated the needsof its little ones, it seemed

to have a final look inside tosee if allzwell followed by

a probing glance at us tocheck if we have seen it allor missed anything, much to

our embarrassment she

flew over us fluttering hersmall wings as she went by


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As I recovered from one of the best experiencesof my life so far, it occurred to me that this wasan all female affairgiving birth, feeding chicks

etc., and scanned to see if I am missinganything/anyone

bingo

I saw the male perched at a distant on a concrete

beam keeping a watchful eye on the wholeproceedingsthe sentinal of the familyI felt that the family picture is now completein

all respectsthe parents ably sharing theresponsibility of their kith and kin !!!

Living for generations in a serene environment

without ever deteriorating it but always addingvalue to the ecosystem.


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Wondering what to do next, I resumed byaudio-visual scan to find out.

The logical next step would be to find morefoodso I rolled a few of the peanuts from

the complimentary accompaniment servedwith the beverageinstantly realizing thatthe nuts would be hard for the sparrow to

crack and choke them.

Realizing the mistake, I requested thewaiter to fetch some raw rice in a bowl.

He was puzzled but ran into the kitchenwhile I took my next sip of the burbling KF a

little warmer since it was served.

But I was too Chilled/Thrilled by then tobother about it as the spirit was up again in

a flash seeing a pair of sparrows landing toexamine the nuts sprawled on the mahoganywooden floor of Nico Bar


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Having sighted food, a pair of sparrows landed and started to get toworkexamining cautiously first followed by action

They converted themselves into woodpeckers and started knocking at thenuts like a hammer drill and breaking them into manageable pieceseven

our cameras could not pickup the rapid action

TheySawThey

ConqueredThey

Fled in a Flash !!!


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And when they sighted rice this time, they were back at it again stuffinggrains into their beaks and ready to fly and feed their kids

This pictory comes to a end here an exotic experience for usbut for the sparrows

Its all in a Days Work !!!


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This experience is so imprinted in my mindthat even as I click on my mouse, the sound

I hear is the sparrows chirpingUnforgettable & etched deep inside !!!

We Swam, Snorkeled in Crystal Clearwater, Walked miles on pure white sand and

in thick forests, collected corals andshellsbut the live demo of life by the

sparrows stands outthanks Sparrows !!!

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As We Flew Over the Sparrows Nest