December had started off as a busy month for me and I am still trying to catch up with things. This is the reason I could not write this piece earlier. Apologies!
The winter has begun well with several migrants returning to the campus from their breeding grounds up north. However, there was some initial anxiety as some of them turned in later and in smaller numbers than in earlier years.
The Grey wagtail (image above) was one of them. Usually we see them as early as early September but this year after a sighting or two, they did not turn up until late October from their Himalyan abodes. Even now, though I see them, I feel there is a dip in their population in the campus.
The same is the situation with the Blyth’s Reed warbler, a central Asian migrant that turns up in good numbers by late October and can be heard uttering the characteristic “tshcuck” calls every few seconds from shrubs and tree canopy. They turned up sometime in late November and I don’t see them in their usual numbers.
The Verditer (photo below), Blue-throated, Taiga and Paradise Flycatchers are back in fairly good numbers and that is a relief. The north-east monsoon has once again disappointed us and none of the waterbodies have any water. The Hundri-Neeva Canal outside the campus has some water flowing in it. But despite the excess rainfall and floods in the Krishna river and its tributaries, very little water was released in the canal. None of the waterbirds seen last year could be seen here. Our only compensation was the sighting of a pair of Wire-tailed Swallows on our Sunday morning outing.
The meagre rains that fell intermittently have kept the campus somewhat lush and green, though it is a matter of time before the drying of the vegetation starts.
Dr Santharam