Feathers on the walkway
23 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Tropics Tags: birds & owls
I am not a patient person or a frequent birdwatcher. These two traits are directly related. On any given Thursday, I generally stride through the Tropics aviary with my eyes front and center, focused on my next destination. Last week, however, I froze in my tracks when confronted by a Malay great argus pheasant on the path.
This type of brazen encounter isn’t unheard-of, but it’s not usual, either. Fellow volunteer Michele, who was already on the walkway with the pheasant when I arrived, says her shins have been wing-slapped by a Victoria crowned pigeon who sometimes frequents the path. (Michele says the pigeon targets the khaki pants worn by most staffers and volunteers.) When a small flotilla of moms and strollers arrived, Michele helped them form a line to one side of the pheasant, and the moms discouraged their toddlers from actually touching the bird, although they wanted to. Eventually, Mr. Argus fluttered up to perch on a railing and show off his plumage some more.
The pheasant convinced me to linger on the path and peer deeper into the dark recesses of foliage on either side. It was an extremely dark and gloomy day, but splashes of color and life dotted the branches.
This nesting Nicobar pigeon seemed oblivious to the commotion just a few feet from her perch; nothing was going to startle or dislodge her. Nearby, black-naped orioles, with their bright yellow coloring, fluttered within easy sight of the walkway. Looking them up online, I realized that their tropical Asian range includes the Nicobar Islands (Great and Little Nicobar), northeast of Malaysia and south of India. So they’re close to the pigeons in the wild, as well.
No bird-feet were strolling the walkway when I passed through yesterday, but the Nicobar pigeons were more active, and one took the pheasant’s previous spot on the railing:
I’d been looking hard for a fairy bluebird the previous week, and yesterday I managed to capture one in my lens during the 90-second window he gave me. I didn’t see another oriole, though. Sustained birdwatching requires more patience than I possess, but even a little bit of lingering can pay off.
