Golden Oriole - Valentine Day

Once upon a time, I was an avid bird watcher. Most of the Sundays, woke up early morning and joined our Group. Thane is surrounded by forest from all the sides and also has plenty of water bodies, fresh water as well as salt water. Marshy lands and creeks and all. So in a way one can call it a paradise for a bird watcher.

However, recently due to many excuses, my birding or bird watching has drastically reduced however the curious birder is still alive. While taking a morning walk at Mahindra's Learning Centre at Nashik or HPCL's MDC at Nigdi, I still attempt to identify and enjoy the early morning calls and songs. It makes feel young and great.

Today it is Sunday morning and when I looked out of my east facing window, suddenly spotted the famous Golden Oriole singing merrily and inviting his significant other to celebrate the spirit of Valentine Day! For more details, visit and also listen to his song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Oriole

The arrival of Oriole tells us that winter is over and it is spring. It is time of arrival of raw mango. Time to enjoy the fresh mango pickle and the tangy Panha, too. Also, many delicacies using the raw mango. My mouth is watering while I write all this stuff and we go from Birds to Food. I live to eat and not eat to live types.

It is middle of February now and the Peepul tree is shedding the leaves and looks like an old man getting bald slowly. But the tree is full of green and red fruits and birds of all types more than a dozen variety and coming for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have to just spend some time at window and enjoy the music and activities. It is also the time for match making for birds and selecting sites for nesting. Busy schedule for all of them. On one hand celebrate Valentine Day and at the same time select a good site to build a nest as babies will be on the way in due course and they do not have adopted any practices to plan the family.