Guest of the Garden

Tiny, colourful visitors visit our garden. They fly in to suck the nectar from flowers and fly off without our notice many times. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Purple rumped Sunbird is smaller than Sparrow, almost like a Humming bird with scientific name Nectarinia zeylonica. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Usually photographers intend to photograph birds near their nests since the birds fly in to feed the young ones. Instead, I chose a place in our garden to photograph these tiny, beautiful visitors. I built a small hide in the garden, so that I can hide inside and capture their photographs waiting patiently days together. In the beginning they were not coming near the hide but gradually they made their way around. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Male birds have upperparts and breast coloured with glistening metallic crimson, green and purple and lower parts being yellow, Rump metallic bluish purple coloured. Female birds have grayish white chin and rest of lower parts in brighter yellow. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Its slender curved bill and tubular tongue are admirably adapted for probing into flower tubes and sucking the nectar. In doing so the bird helps to cross-pollinate the blossoms. These birds found singly or in pairs flitting from flower to flower in search of nectar. They suck the nectar by hanging upside down the flower. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Their ‘tit you, tit you, tit you, trr-r-rtit’ sounds made me alert to set right my camera inside the hide. It is very challenging to photograph these birds because they are very active. As they are very tiny and quick in flight. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Their nest is an oblong pouch of soft grasses, rubbish and cobwebs, draped with pieces of bark, woody refuse, with a projecting portico above the lateral entrance hole. Suspended from the tip of a branch of bush or creeper at moderate heights. Seeing and enjoying the beauty of these colourful creatures itself is life’s golden moments. Viewed 2306 Times | Comments (0)

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