The Wild Rose

Every morning, before the smoke/fog rises (if it even does. Most days it lingers, giving everything a fuzzy glow) there is a social gathering. It’s not the group of women who gather in a corner of the park, to sit and chat about who knows what. It isn’t the group of men who slowly make their rounds up and down the streets either. This social gathering is made up of birds.

I have a pretty real fear of birds, so anything involving these flying devils usually sends me in the opposite direction, and fast! I’ve never actually been attacked by a bird, but their unpredictable and dart-y movements send me into a panic. And, the bigger the bird, the more freaked out I become. I was sure that I was on the verge of a panic attack when I came across the wild stork and vulture for the first time when in Africa. (sorry the picture is a bit blurry, but I was shaking pretty violently by the time I got my camera out to snap this shot & understandably so! This thing was on the loose and was just about as tall as me! Ugh!)

With all that being said, I didn’t spend much time on our balcony here in Delhi because there is quite a bit of bird traffic up on our level, with the treetops being the same height as our floor. However, the other morning there was an interesting bird call that brought me over to the window overlooking our balcony, and that is when I learned that the Rose-Ringed Parrot was native to India and are prevalent in Delhi. Never having seen a wild parrot before, I ventured out on to the balcony to watch these socialites gossip amongst themselves.

Parrots weren’t the only birds visiting with one another, and as soon as a pigeon kamikazed it’s way towards my head I quickly retreated back to the safety of the apartment. There were the bright green parrots chatting in the treetops, pigeons swooping and darting here and there, a plethora of other small birds, and then there was a prehistoric sized bird that, I’m sure, would have no problem picking up a small child and flying off with it. The video below, that I took from our balcony, does not show all of the aforementioned birds, but it does give you a feel for what a social gathering of Delhi’s birds sounds like.