ABHIPRAI: MORE BIRDS AT GOA VELHA

GOA DIARIES: BIRDING AT GOA VELHA - PART 2

April is that time of the year when most species of birds in Goa breed. Since my visit coincided with the breeding season, I did get a few snaps of the avians as they were occupied in various activities relating to passing on their genes. Bhabi's mom spotted an Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) from the kitchen. I followed this beautiful bird as she went to the road, collecting small twigs and deposited them into a tree hollow right at the entrance of the home. After reading about them on Wikipedia, I concluded that it was a female and she would lay her eggs within a week. Besides, I also saw a pair of Jungle Mynahs (Acridotheres fuscus) catching insects and feeding it to their young who were holed up, quite literally in a coconut tree. In every 15 minutes, one of the two parents would fly back to the nest with some food - usually an insect in their beak for the chicks to eat. Unlike the Robins, both the male and the female Jungle Mynah chip in while raising the young ones.