The Flight of the Hornbills

Hi All,

We have had sightings of the Grey Hornbill at and around Native Place for the past year or more now.  From the sightings we concluded that there was definitely  a small  community of these fascinating creatures living in the area.  I uploaded one silhouette picture that i managed to take in the Native Place Garden a while ago. 

One day Hornbills will visit my garden

Years ago I used to watch an animated tv series called the Wild Thornberries with my son Sunith.   A show about a little girl called Eliza Thornberry who travels the world with her famous nature show host parents and falls into exciting wildlife adventures.

On one such show the Thornberries were on an expedition somewhere in India hoping to film a species of a rare Hornbill. In the episode they were camped out in the forest clearing near some huge trees laden with wild fruit that the Hornbill loves to eat.

This episode stayed with me and when I first started planting trees at Native Place I looked for species that attracted birds. I had imagined the whole thing unfolding in front of my eyes. Planting the trees…watching them grow and bear fruit… the birds arriving to nest and feast on the fruit

Much later I got to know that the Hornbill’s loved to eat wild figs. This was amazing to me -  they loved the fruit of the one lone large specimen i.e. the Umbar tree that existed in Native Place garden. I quickly jumped to the happy conclusion that since we have an Umbar (wild fig) in the garden that fruits copiously we should be graced with Hornbills.  Rather simplistic thinking considering that these noisy, social, omnivorous birds need large tropical forest areas with many fruiting trees throughout the year to survive. But there were forests in the hills around and so I continued to have hope. A couple of years ago we spotted our first pair of Hornbills in the garden and soon they became a regular sighting in the Native Place garden.

I put a picture up a few weeks ago on facebook and Anand Pendharkar congratulated us as the Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris) is an indicator of intact forests and deserves conservation attention.

We are so grateful for our beautiful Umbar tree  and all the denizens in the garden that it supports and nurtures.

Shine on Umbar tree!

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao
www.nativeplace.com
www.flynirvana.com

Small Minivet in the Native Place Garden

Hi All,

For the last few weekends we have been noticing this elusive brightly colored bird flitting about in the tops of the Umbar tree but have been unable to identify it or capture it on camera. We have been spotting them in pairs or more in the late afternoon, flitting about and then moving on.  They were easy to spot because of their bright colors yet not so easy to capture because of their restless habits. But finally we got lucky last weekend.

We were able to identify it after taking the above picture. The weather was dull and the picture is not sharp but it was enough for us to identify it.

The Small Minivet is said to be a widespread resident in our area and prefers open wooded areas. Has it started to visit the Native Place garden recently or is it that we have never noticed them before. Whatever may be the case – Welcome Small Minivet.

Astrid Rao

www.flynirvana.com

www.nativeplace.com

A New Discovery

Black Winged Cuckoo Shrike - Our first sighting at Native Place

We spent the latter part of last week at Kamshet. It was my Birthday on Thursday and I was keen to spend it at Native Place. Sanjay wanted to throw me a party in Mumbai but I insisted I wanted to spend my birthday with my trees at Native Place a wish that elicited a rolling of the eyes from him.

Bex sent me birthday wishes hoping my dreams would come true and this made me reflect - a lot of my dreams have come true we have to say. And I have so much to be grateful and joyous about.
Building Native Place was one such dream, growing a garden was another, having my family enjoy the space with us was still another. I often tell people about how I grew up in a little village in Mumbai and then the city grew leaving us with no open spaces or trees to climb. It was a dream to build a home where my kids and family could continue to enjoy the wild unbridled freedom of running barefoot exploring nature around us.

Well here I was in Kamshet with husband, son and nephews Dwane and Daniel on my birthday, enjoying a walk in the pouring rain, listening to the birds call and feeling at home in nature. My dream surely has come true and I wish the same to all of you

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao
www.flynirvana.com

Food Gardens

It has been more than a year since my last post. I have neglected the garden choosing to paraglide, bird and butterfly watch and take long walks. During this time the native place garden has been left to its own devices. Since we did not have any delicate plants but mostly native plantings the garden took care of itself managing to go by with infrequent watering, pruning and weeding. i got used to the unkempt look. The climbers and shrubs around the house stood by us and flowered profusely wowing the guests and this only made me more complacent.

Consuelo sent me some herb seeds from Italy in December and i planted them in the new year. Now my excitement began to grow and each weekend as i approached Kamshet and Native Place all i could think about was running into the garden and checking on my seedlings. This led to a complete makeover of the garden. We had loads to do in terms of cutting back, pruning, clearing, manuring, and watering.

Today we have loads of basil, oregano, thyme, chamomile as well as some sage, tomatoes, beans and pumpkins growing well. Have also planted ginger, garlic, sweet potato and got a new rotating composter. I feel on top of the world - i have always wanted to grow my own herbs and this is a dream come true for me. My attention has now turned to growing food and using every tiny area in the garden to grow edibles. It's amazing to make the link from the garden to the kitchen and onto the table

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao

The Wasp Lady

Last Month at Native Place

A story you wont belive.

I was on the tandoor terrace in the morning leaning out and adjusting the fragrant Madhu-malati (Quisqualis Indica) vine that climbs up here.

I was so busy stretched out over the railing and pushing the vine back that I did not realize that I had upset a wasp’s nest just above. It was on the little parapet by the tandoor and as I pushed the stubborn branches to one side I shook this wonderful looking but very dangerous wasp’s nest.

Suddenly I began to hear a buzzing sound. It was not coming from nearby but from in my head I stepped backwards in front of the tandoor and put my head down whipping my hair forward. I put my hands in my sleep tousled and many days unbrushed tresses and began to do the don’t give a damn dance.

Daniel, Dwane , Michelle and Sanjay watched me for a while and then Daniel dashed forward – inserted his fingers into my knotted hair and began to comb them out one at a time – yes there were 12 of them all together , more than an inch sized wasps buzzing about in my hair.

One by one he snagged them out and they fell out to the ground got up and flew menacingly towards him – he dodged and kept at it and I kept doing the don’t give a damn dance and continued to mess with my hair. Above on the top terrace Apporva, Dylan, and some others stared over at me wondering what was going on.

By this time Daniel was telling me ‘they are gone they are gone’ and michelle was shouting ‘no no I can see them’ All the while I remained silent but continued to do the dance. ( dwane calls it the avatar dance)

Then Daniel got stung once and then again on the head. Now sanjay enters the fray with his slipper in hand – slippering my hair as I encourage him to go for it and not worry about hurting me.

Each time a wasp flies out of my hair I see him dodge it even with my head hanging down. Apporva and gang watch as Sanjay takes a chappal (slipper) to my hair.

Finally I pull the last one out but not before I get stung on the thumb. Mercifully with all that went down instead of multiple bites in the head face, legs, arms ( I was wearing shorts and a sleeveless tee) and they were buzzing around my face and body as they got out of my hair and flew about angrily before moving out.

Now Hiren who was earlier asking questions like what shampoo or conditioner I had used – comes back with a hairbrush to assist the operation.

It was all over by then – adrenalin was pumping full on and my thumb was swollen and throbbing

Sunith who was in the room all this while gets to hear that Daniel has been stung and immediately checks the EFR manual – he washes daniel’s forehead and makes him lie down, elevated his feet with a pillow and covered him with a blanket and sat to monitor his condition. He does not realize that I was stung too.

I look for the apis mel bottle ( homeopathic medicine for stings ) and find it has all but evaporated and the bottle is empty. So we used ice instead – as instructed by Sunith who also insists that I wash my hand.

Sunith then went online to try and identify the offending creature so as to decide what to do next !!!

The buzz in my head continued for a while – I kept imagining myself as the wasp lady – walking about with a big jumbled hairdo full of buzzing creatures – everyone was telling stories about each one’s reactions .

Serioulsly Daniel (one of my nephews) saved me from a swollen head and other complications

Happy to get off with just one sting

Astrid

Mystery climber identified

The mystery climber I mentioned in a previous post continued to remain nameless for a while. This winter it flowered profusely drawing my attention each time I walked in or out of Native Place. I began to visit this climber every afternoon to watch the sun birds drink nectar from its hanging flower bracts. It continued to flower and show off up until the end of March inspiring me to keep the search on for its true name. Recently while browsing I hit pay dirt.

Thunbergia coccinea, Wall. (Hexacentris coccinea, Nees). A very tall climber: st. much branched, 4-angled: lvs. short-petiolate, variously shaped, the lower broadly ovate, with a hastate or cordate angled base, the upper ovate, cordate, all angularly toothed or the upper entire: fls. in terminal or axillary racemes, 1-3 ft. long; bracts large, inflated, as long as the tube; limb scarlet, of 5 reflexed emarginate lobes; throat orange. Autumn and winter. India.
Source: Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao