Asian koel: the singer with red glistening eyes

Koel (kuil) belongs to cuckoo family and is a bird that has found a prominent place in poems and popular literature, it s one bird that most people in the subcontinent know if not able to identify-indeed they are heard more than seen. "He was but as the cuckoo is in June, Heard, not regarded" that a line from Shakespeare!!. Don’t know about being regarded but yes it very difficult to get a glimpse as they prefer trees dense with foliages. Writes Mughal king Babar (who was quite an avid birdie, same goes with his son Humayun who while fleeing from Sher Shah Suri did find time to get few birds painted. I like these guys!!. Quite Zen like. Not to forget Jehangir who had described many birds in detail and patronized great miniature painters like Ustad Mansur-who has the credit of painting dodo just before it became extinct. The above pic) in 1526 "Another is the Koel, which in length may be equal to the crow, but is much thinner. It has a kind of song, and is the nightingale of Hindustan. It is respected by the natives of Hindustan as much as the nightingale is by us. It inhabits gardens where the trees are close planted."

Asian Koel has distinctive red eyes that look like Kathakali dancer enacting enraged protagonist. They are large long tailed bird, male wear glistening back and are vocal and conspicuous while female (rare spotting, this pic taken in Pondicherry. Incidentally Asian koel is the state bird here) are heavily barred and spotted in white, muted and unobtrusive. They are mostly found on canopies feeding on berries and fruits, therefore also a major seed disperser. It is the bird whose singing heralds rain (some call it spring), the name kokil symbolizes the onset of rains. These singing of great abandon as the heavy clouds gather is what made Kalidasa devote much to this bird in his epic (very sensuous) poem Meghadhootam. And when the rain pours

'Chatak khada chonch khole hai

samput khole seep khadi hai

main apna ghat liye khada hoon

apni apni hame padi hai'.

Chatak is pied crested cuckoo, and it is believed that Chataka drinks only rainwater, I love these myths. I read these on the Net “Many of the old poetic forms in Jndian languages are short and suggestive, like Doha and barve in Hindi, Obi in Marathi, Boli and mahia in Punjabi and Thirukural in Tamil. Some of these succinct forms are very close to haiku. Buddhist thought and the Zen approach to life are also not alien to the common Indian mind. There is a long tradition of poetry in India where the real contents of the poem are not expressed in the literal meanings but are suggestive. Here one from Punjabi:

We koeläh boldiafI

Kade bol

chandara kawah

Translation…

The koels are singing

Why don’t you also speak

O nasty crow!

A habit of Cuckoos that most of us are aware of is that they lay eggs in other species nest-it’s a brood parasite. Crow despite its reputation of intelligence is hapless victim (other victims include Myna, drango, magpie and many more), however mercifully unlike other cuckoos Koel chicks are not known to evict or kill the host chicks. Brood parasitism of Indian Koel is even mentioned in Sanskrit literature 2000BC or older, mentioned as anya vapa (the one raised by others). The Greeks have also written about European cuckoos.

This beautiful poem by William Wordsworth(1770-1850) titled “To the Cuckoo” is my all-time favorite

O blithe newcomer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice:
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near.

Though babbling only to the vale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.

To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen!

And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

O blessed birth! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, fairy place,
That is fit home for Thee!

Wordsworth was responsible in ushering in Romanticism in English literature (along with Coleridge). Another of his poem that had an impact one me was “The World Is Too Much with Us”, its about materialism and how we are distancing from nature. So much applicable in the times we live not to forget it was written about two centuries back…amazing!!. Wordsworth defined poetry as “emotion collected in tranquility”.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

11 years of bird watching!!

This diwali it will be eleven years since this blogger took up bird watching seriously, I can’t believe it. Time flies!!. If I recall rightly the diwali of 97’ caught me on the wrong foot I was trapped in the intense smoke and noise of congested Karol bagh, I decided never ever to be in cities during these festivals. Next year I took my sack and hit the road intention being Corbett but in route to bus stand decided Bharatpur wouldn’t be bad idea. Met few foreigners on the bird trail and rest as they say is history (and future!). There is lots of fun in knowing about birds, with camera it has got further consolidated and blog has to some extend formalized it. Cheers to that!!