There are a bunch of trees near my house, a rarity in my city these days. As a result I get to see a bunch of birds every time I step into my house terrace. Ever since shifting to this house I have made it a point to feed the crows that live in the nearby trees. Since the lock-down feeding the crows has become a ritual. I feed them twice a day, once around 10.30 AM and once around 4 PM. It’s a fascinating sight to see the crows flying towards my house as I start placing food on the parapet wall of our terrace. 

As the days have passed I have noticed a few smaller things that I have not paid much attention to in the past.  The crows do seem to have their favorite foods: Chapathis are their favorite, bread comes next and they like savories like Ompodi & Mixture. The have a particular liking for Medu Vadai. They are ok with biscuits, water melon & musk melon but do not seem to like bananas. They don’t like Sundal either. Crows also exhibit different personality traits: some of them descend down on the wall pick up their share of food and fly back to the trees, some sit on the wall and eat uneasily, while others rather than eating, shout on top of their voice to broadcast to others that food is available.

I get to see other birds too. There are a bunch of pigeons that live in the neighborhood. My immediate next house neighbor places water in mud plates on his terrace for the pigeons, so they have kind of made his terrace their home. Two of the pigeons come to eat if I place scraps of fruits for the crows. Ditto for a couple of squirrels. The pigeons and squirrels come to eat only after most of the crows have left. A couple of times I have seen a solitary Myna too eating on our terrace. However all these creatures make a quick exit if I even get near the door of our terrace. 

There are about 4 parrots living in a hole on the side walls of apartments two building from my house. I can see them only in the morning around 8 AM but they seem to vanish from sight after that. In the evening they will be flying at high-speed from one tree to another. Guess they have the same attitude of adolescent guys indulging in bike racing in East-coast Road. I have never seen these parrots coming to eat at my house or drink at my neighbors house. May be once of the days, I need to wake up at daybreak and see what these parrots are up to. 

I also get to see cranes flying in the sky; guess they are moving towards Foreshore Estate where there is creek / backwaters. I get to see eagles gliding  high in the sky over a nearby hotel, the most that I have seen is six of them. I guess a crows have made nest on the terrace of the hotel. From time to time, I see a couple of crows trying to chase a solitary eagle; it’s like watching fighter planes indulging in dogfight. Most of the times, the crows seem to be successful; happy ending… for the crows and hungry tummy for the eagles. 

Around 6 PM, the villains of the current season, Bats start making their appearance in the sky. It’s quite a scary sight to see a constant stream of bats flying from south-east to the north-west direction. I guess they are coming from somewhere near Foreshore Estate where there are a couple of water-bodies and a lot of trees, but I am not sure. Once the bats start gracing the sky with their appearance, I shut the terrace door and get back into the house.  The sun by this time would be beating a hasty retreat and in no time mosquitoes would be busy making everybody’s life uncomfortable.

It’s my deepest wish or daydream that on one of the days when I open my terrace door to feed the crows there should be bunch of Scarlet Macaw Parrots or a couple of Indian Peafowls sitting on my terrace’s parapet wall.