A day spent among the birds is quite the antidote to a too-fast world.
Birds appear and disappear at their own pace; of their own initiative. If you need to see them, most often, you go to them rather than they coming to you. And they care not a fig whether you go to them or not.
Today was spent at Prakruthi Resort, about 35 kilometres from Bangalore's so-called Central Business District (let's be fair, Bangalore does not really have a CBD worth the name, much like about 99 percent of India's so-called towns). The thing about Prakruthi Resort is that it is a good 5-6 kilometres off the beaten trail (which happens to be the much-harried road to the new "Bengaluru" airport). Now this has resulted in some infinitely good things, and some usual deplorable things. For the good part, being about six kilometres away from the road means that the wind and the birds are pretty much the only noises around (other than the ones you make). The food's also good, as far as it goes - slightly better than the normal resort fare. There's a lot of green, even if too-clean-and-manicured to be any real good. And because the resort is newish, the cane furniture has not tattered yet, nor has the service become non-existent.
Prakruthi, however, joins the hordes of resorts that have mushroomed over the last decade, which have absolutely no respect for the environment. People wrongly assume that if there's a lot of green, there must be a lot of respect for the environment. But let me explain what I mean. Prakruthi has thick coconut tree-cover, a row of silver oaks, a fresh-green lawn teaming with insect life that SHOULD attract the usual insect-pickers, but no - there is a serious dearth of birds here.
Some resorts make a big deal of their bird life, even if all you have is only what you managed to attract. The best resorts, however, have managed to RETAIN the birds in their original habitat. Like Angsana, for instance, on the Doddaballapur Road, which makes a big deal out of its bird life. I remember seeing cane-brakes and a charming couple of Indian Silverbills (their natural habitat). The lawn at Angsana also attracts the Indian Robin, which I did not see at Prakruthi. At least even a place like Golden Palms managed to attract some Pied Wagtails. But alas, there was NOTHING on the lawn at Prakruthi - even the token Magpie-Robin was hard to come by - there was no Pied Bushchat either, nor an Ashy Prinia. Indeed, there was no evidence that the builders had even known the birds that lived there before they came and dug up the place and built this 'green, green' resort.
All that I found in the resort itself, within the grounds, were the usual suspects which do not, strictly speaking, constitute "a wealth of bird-life" all by themselves. The ever-present Red-Whiskered Bulbul, a Tickell's Flowerpecker or two, a lot of lovely Purple-Rumped Sunbirds, and some persistent Common Tailorbirds are all I saw. Even the Magpie-Robin was heard rather than seen.
The only mildly-interesting find within the Prakruthi campus was a Greater Coucal, a sluggish, shy bird which has a way of flying up into the trees from the ground and disappearing from view totally.
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At the far end of the drive in Prakruthi, there was a metal gate which opened out to an open, wild, overgrown scrub-forest, much drier than the deceptive heavy greenery within the campus. This seemed to be a township-to-be, with marked out plots and token roads. But the forest has taken over, and here's the thing - I've seen many places in Bangalore like this. They're all waiting for the axe, but in the meantime there's a forest which features a feast of birds other than 'usual suspects'.
Sure enough, the difference between the complete dearth of birds within the Prakruthi campus and the abundance I saw before me was so quickly evident. My step surprised a Great Tit off a low bush. There was a completely walled compound overgrown with tallish bushes, one of which blocked the gateway so I couldn't go in. Some Indian Robins and some Babblers were in evidence within. A couple of Green Bee-Eaters put on a grand show, on a barbed-wire fence.
It was at this point that a female Common Iora flew into a low mango bush. Now this moment was worth going to any distance for. I've never seen a Common Iora before (only in photos) - and the wait has been really long. The bird is indescribably beautiful, greenish-yellow with black, and it sounds heavenlier still.
A flash of blue, and a White-Breasted Kingfisher flew away at my step. A Spotted Dove kept watch on a post in the distance. I heard the feeble jingling whistles of the Oriental White-Eye and soon enough, there was a flock of about 10 of them, moving busily along, bush to tree. A Green Bee-Eater had just caught some prey, which was battered on the perch (a low-lying cable wire) and busily eaten. What I thought to be a Shikra flew heavily into the darkness of a really low mango bush.
All this, just with my first few steps outside a resort whose name means "Nature" - and has a funereal dearth of birds.
Well, the paradise scrub-forest I saw is meant for the axe soon........the township will take it over. I remember a similar experience on Sarjapur Road, in the Serenity compound. I'm sure what I've just described is happening in numerous places within Bangalore.
But Prakruthi will remain - become less green, and lose even the few usual suspects it has, as it attracts more and more visitors.
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Mustn't a "resort" be a showcase for birds, that will soothe tired, exhausted people who come from urban jungles? Indeed it must. And for that to happen, you must do one of two things (preferably both) when you build a 'resort' - either learn about the bird life and try to preserve the birds in their natural habitat, or, if that's not possible, attract birds by building over in a bird-friendly way. I ask too much, you say? Yeah, I've heard that before.........but what I saw OUTSIDE Prakruthi today healed my tired urban blues.
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(Please click the links to see the birds I've referred to here. They are not my photographs; I am not a photographer. They are just provided to indicate what the bird looks like. I am indebted to many bird-lovers on Flickr for their efforts)
To 'hard-core' birders, the birds I've referred to may just seem normal, not exciting, or just 'usual suspects'. Well, do remember that to the unitiated, they will be heaven itself!
