The hoopoe is back! After a gap of nearly three months, this bird is back in the campus. I first saw it a week ago opposite the Green House. This morning, I woke to the calls of the “hud-hud-hud” calls of the bird. They are now getting ready for their next breeding cycle. Where does this bird diasppear after it raises its family of 2-3 chicks in a tree-hole or in a crevice in a building? I have seldom seen them in the campus, though on rare occasions they do turn up in the open spaces outside the campus in our valley between June and August.
An Asian Brown Flycatcher, a local migrant, too turned up near the Malli House last week. The season is changing and the birds are coming back. The first Himalayan migrants – the Grey Wagtail and the Greenish Warblers should be here anytime now. Paradise flycatchers too will soon turn up. Keep your eyes and ears open!
Dr Santharam