O what a spectacular bird !!

Tree pie mentioned in the last blog has rufous plumage but there is another spectacular looking tree pie endemic to Western Ghats: the Southern tree pie most commonly referred to as White Bellied Tree pie, it has black mask in sharp contrast to its white under part and a long flowing tail. Though endemic to the region it is classified as ‘least threatened’ by IUCN. It is an amazing bird to look at and unlike the rufous tree pie they are found in dense forests. I followed it about an hour as it flitted from one tree to another. Absolutely incredible bird. This painting is by John Gould, need to add here Gould was the one who gave its scientific name Dendrocitta leucogastra.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal and aboriginal poems

I came across some really amazing poem by aborigines in particular Oodgeroo Noonuccal on the Net (I just cannot help expressing my thanks to those genius people who created Internet and made it accessible to common people around the world. I am really very grateful, it is such an amazing experience. The more I know about it the more exciting it gets, I guess very soon laptops will also become accessible to most people). Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920-1993) was the first aboriginal poet to get her work published which was quite a success. She started her career as domestic servant and later joined the women’s wing of the Army and rose to be a corporal. She remained an untiring campaigner for aboriginal rights till her end. The Aborigines have the longest cultural history in the world, with origins dating back to the last Ice Age. The Aborigines believe that "Creation Ancestors" created the landscape and the first people. When these creatures disappeared, they left their spirits in the mountains and rocks, to destroy or damage a sacred site threatens not only the living but also the spiritual inhabitants of the land.

I manage to get few of her poems browsing websites, I found ‘We are going’ very touching, the poem ends with lines that are haunting…

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
The bora ring is gone.
The corroboree is gone.
And we are going.

Her poems are grounded to history and attempted to communicate a proud Indigenous identity that was linked to a vibrant, spirituality of the land. Her Aboriginal upbringing was her main inspiration. Oodgeroo grew up on North Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane. Here, surrounded by the sea and the bush land she would wander off for hours exploring. Nature became very important to her.

This poem reminds me of all the trees in big cities (of course if they survived the onslaught of development). This a poem titled Municipal Gum most Australians have read…

Gumtree in the city street,
Hard bitumen around your feet,
Rather you should be
In the cool world of leafy forest halls
And wild bird calls
Here you seems to me
Like that poor cart-horse
Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,
Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged,
Whose hung head and listless mien express
Its hopelessness.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous
To see you thus
Set in your black grass of bitumen—
O fellow citizen,
What have they done to us?

Only someone who is deeply connected to nature could have written these lines. It is such an evocative poem. If trees could speak they will have different story tell…