The thrill of a new place springs the most from the ‘I’ll meet new bird friends!’ feeling for me! The nature around us is just too amazing and inspiring for us to not experience its splendor.
When it was time for me to leave for Delft for my Masters’, I would remember all the wonderful birding memories I’ve had in my university during my Bachelors’, and also all of those birding memoirs from Nagpur and from some special trips in India would flash before me. I had developed a wonderful relationship with the Silverbills and Munias whom I used to feed in my backyard, and I couldn’t think of a place without all of those birdy pals! And then the day came, and I knew I couldn’t look back. I poured the last bowl of rala and left home with a heavy heart.
Delft welcomed us students warmly, and so did the university. Settling was challenging, but fun as well. I would feel lonely at times, and wished I had someone to ‘tweet’ with and cheer me up. And guess who came to the rescue- my new bird friends!
The great physicist Albert Einstein has rightly quoted – “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better”, which is indeed very true. There is a deep connect between nature and every little activity of ours, even science and technology. I always would be amused when I would see science and nature confluence wonderfully at my institute, and similarly, Delft is no exception! Home to a renowned and amazing Technical University, it is also home to a plethora of natural wonders, and birds as well! As I settled in a bit, birds began to draw my attention, and I quickly made some new friends.
While biking back from my university one day, a black-and-white bird with a long tail flew boldly past me. At first sight, he seemed like a Magpie, and I figured out that he was a Eurasian Magpie. Then on, the Magpie has been an all-time companion and chatterbox pal, who can fly right onto the bike lane with his bunch of friends, and cackle mischievously! He reminds me of the Rufous Treepie I would spot back home quite often! After all, they’re family-mates!
The boldie – Eurasian Magpie
There’s another shyer version of the Magpie- the Eurasian Jay! He’s a fairly common yet spectacular ‘Himalayan Beauty’ for us in India, but out here, he’s just everywhere! He can surprise you, when he suddenly flies onto a fence or low bush with an acorn in his beak, and look straight at you with a cocked-up crest! He has pretty fawn plumage with bands of blue, that’s just like a fresh canvas painting! Here he is in the image below! (PS: I too met him for the first time in fall near an acorn tree, while he was picking acorns!)
The Jay with an acorn!
It isn’t a must for all small birds to be shy though, and the Great Tits ‘avify’ this fact. They’re one of the most playful, dynamic, and vocal birds I’ve met! Tits have always been one of my favorites, but I had never watched one so close! The Great Tit met me on a garden walk, and at first he set off a lovely musical melody from deep in the bush. But as I drew closer, he turned up and sat before me boldly, singing in delight! He’s been an all-time-entertainer ever since.
Mr. Dynamic – Great Tit
The Great Tit is undoubtedly one of the best friends I’ve made, but there’s another cuter Tit friend, who’s really by far the cutest ‘playfulness’ of a bird I’ve ever (and would probably ever) meet. He’s the European Blue Tit. Oh the quantum of energy this little one possesses is just unmatched! He’s also an amazing acrobat, and you can see him hang himself at all kinds of weird angles on thin branches, he’s always up to mischief! I met this tiny being when he was trying to find a nesting place in a broken lampshade near my window. And believe it or not, he was so hard at pecking at the metal, that you could ‘hear’ his presence! He later abandoned the place, as he didn’t seem to go well with it, but ever since then, he’s always had a special place in my birding book, for the ‘chirpiest, cutest, tiniest and most playful being ever!’ (PS: I’m posting a small gallery of the Blue Tit as I can’t do with a single picture, he’s just too splendid for words!)
Cuteness overloaded! The Blue Tit!
As winter begins, the Tits are joined by other rarer Tits, and some other species such as the Goldcrest, and they form groups (apparently for hunting), but they make an incredibly excited and playful lot! Watching them is a treat to the eyes, but capturing them is a huge challenge! The Long-tailed Tit is another lovely and lively birdie, who depicts what a millisecond (or maybe even a microsecond) looks like, for he never stays longer on a perch! The Goldcrest too is a beautiful wonder, but he’s rare and elusive, and of course, tiny, which adds to the spotting challenge!
The Long-tailed Tit!
The spectacular ‘goldcrested’ beauty!
The Tits and the Goldcrest are immense tree-lovers, and so is the Treecreeper! A master of camouflage, he’s one of the quickest helix tracers of the avian world. You’d never see a bird as perfectly bark-patterned as this species. The Short-toed Treecreeper is a trunk-runner who’s extremely fun to watch, until he climbs so high that your neck begins to hurt!
Tree-pattern splendour!
Up goes the Short-toed Treecreeper!
The arrival of winter is subtly heralded by some more pretty birdies like the Finches! I’ve been lucky to spot the extremely shy Common Chaffinch a couple of times this season, but the Goldfinch is still on my wish-list! The Chaffinch is a very subtly coloured birdie, but he has loads of spectacular hues in his wing-palette! With a soft pastel pink-brown plumage, he has some intricate patterns of yellow-green and black-white, so if you happen to look close, the colour splendor can truly surprise you!
The Common Chaffinch
The more the trees, more the tree lovers. This is pretty true, even though we have loads of water bodies here too! We’ll meet the watery-friends soon, but before we go, let’s say hello to the Great Spotted Woodpecker! He’s indeed a marvellous being. With a curious banded ‘face’, and a beautiful pied wing pattern, he’s always busy pecking at tree branches, even the tallest ones! He sometimes strikes ‘watch me how I don’t fall off’ poses for us!
Mr. Curious – The Great Spotted Woodpecker
Shining bright!
Meeting the Rose-ringed Parakeet in Delft was a big surprise for me. I finally found an everyday pal, whom I’d known for long! He was, and is always his usual talkative self even in the starkly different climate, and that’s how I met him, while he was pecking at some half-dried twigs in fall, chatting away alongside his beaky work.
The Rose-ringed Parakeet
A bunch of birdies out there love the ground too! They’re often seen flitting about close to the grass, or on low bushes, and some craft magnificent camouflages with their favorite place- the soil and the ground! The Eurasian Wren is one such tiny short-tailed bird, whom you’ll always spot hopping about the ground and hiding in bushes, while he makes a ‘tweety’ sound! He’s one of the swiftest birds ever!
The tiny Eurasian Wren!
There’s another not-so-conspicuous bird who’s fond of the low foliage too, he’s the Dunnock. At first, he may look like a messy little arrangement of browns and oranges, but if you look really close, he has lovely hues of grey, brown, orange and even a little pink-red in his plumage! He looks truly pretty when he show’s off his colours in the sun on an open perch, but he hardly does that, and this makes it tricky to click him! He’s just too shy to show up! But maybe, you can hear his chirpy musical call, for he sings very sweet as well (especially close to sundown), as gently as he’s coloured though! A subtle songster indeed!
The Dunnock ‘avifying’ camouflage!
Mr. Dunnock amongst the pretty fall foliage!
Let’s meet some more songsters now, as these are the ones I usually wake up to the songs of. The Common Blackbird, quite true to the name, is a pretty common birdie out here, for you would find him singing away for hours with a twinkle in his orange-framed eye, and he sometimes gets super creative with his melodies! He’s a close relative of the Grey-winged Blackbird (one of the finest songsters in India), and though he isn’t as pitch perfect as his grey-winged counterpart, he surely seems to derive much inspiration from him, probably that’s where he gets his creative instincts from! This seemingly amicable birdie sometimes camouflages (especially the brown female) and can give you a tricky time while following his call!
The male Common Blackbird
The female Common Blackbird
Have you heard of the Robin’s tale, of how he sings the winter out in a positive spirit, and tells his friends to keep faith, for the spring is sure to come after the gloomy winter? I feel like I’m living the tale! The European Robin is another songster who, one fine day, made a surprise appearance on a fence, cocked his head at me, and then disappeared. However, he grew bolder and musical as fall approached and ended, and thereafter, I’ve met him so many times in gardens, along sidewalks, or just perched cozy in a bush, singing to joy. His songly presence is truly one of the most optimistic vibes I’ve experienced in my first (and difficult) winter over here.
The curious European Robin
Up on a tree!
Of the big birdies out here, the Pigeons are by far the most similar in characteristics to their cousins all over the world! Though extremely intricate in their feathery appearance, Woodpigeons are masters at going ‘cooo-cooo’ for long durations of time, and so are the Collared Doves. Enormously small for their size, they sometimes hop onto low bushes (especially in spring) and balance themselves meticulously on the tips of thin branches to nibble at the fresh buds too!
The Common Woodpigeon
Delft is well known for its canals, and the serenity of canal lined habitations. And this brings a whole set of birdies as well! Indeed, the water birds! Common Coots are by far the most common of them all, for they would always be out swimming along a canal in any season, and all weather. They make a croaky sound, especially in the twilight hours, that you just can’t miss to hear while treading your way home by the calm waters (which are no longer calm with the Coots out there!).You’d never manage to feel lonely on a night walk when there are Coots around! They also play pranks at times, and that’s when they chase each other while pretending to run over the waters! This act is tremendously startling and fun to watch!
Serene waters, and Coots!
A noisy pair!
Among the other usual swimmers are the peaceful Swans, the chattery Cormorants, and the jolly Mallards. They’re sometimes joined by the very very noisy Egyptian Geese, though the Geese like to walk than swim! The Geese are a peculiar lot. They usually march around in pairs, and sometimes fly high onto tall perches to herald their presence! That’s when they honk the loudest! They seem to be oblivious to the immense number of bikers here, I’ve watched many cross the bike lanes in an unimaginably peaceful fashion. Or perhaps they’re just too used to bikes! As spring arrives and blossoms begin to bloom, the Geese march around with their tiny chicks, and they are just as bold and confident as their parents, for they too do not fear people biking around!
The Canadian and Greylag Geese are other winter visitors who stride along with the all-time wanderers- the Egyptian Geese! They’re equally bold and fearless as well! So are the all-year entertainers, the Gulls! But don’t you be fooled by their curious looks, for they can steal your food before you know it!
A pair of Mallards
A flock of ‘alert’ Egyptian Geese!
The family march!
Precious playtime moments!
The deceptive ‘Gull’ looks!
Just as the chicks of the Geese herald spring arrival, the pretty Great crested Grebe begins to get his tawny mane back, and shines like a brown gem while he swims calmly over the blue waters. He kind of shows off the crest and cheeks cheekily, for he’s super happy to get them back after loosing them to white face plumage in fall! He’s another spectacular wonder you’d admire forever once you see him in his majestic summer plumage! He’s now one of my personal favorites too!
The Great crested Grebe cruising over magnificent blue waters!
A favorite reflection shot!
Did I meet some exciting and surprise water birds too? Well, yes I did. It was an unexpected meeting with an Oystercatcher. The Eurasian Oystercatcher is a not-so-common species of shorebirds, who’s beautiful black-white, with a coral orange beak, that contrasts his plumage perfectly. He’s truly a wonder, who I happened to run into on a lawn at campus while I was biking home on a terribly cold day. Fortunately, I could get a good shot, and I was super lucky, for I got to know that he’s not a very common find! (PS: My hands almost froze while clicking him, but he was worth the freeze!)
The Eurasian Oystercatcher
The optimistic chirp of the Robin, the cute twitting of the Tit, the honking of the Geese, the song of the Blackbird, and the company of each of those wonderful birdie friends has indeed helped me gel into Delft, and keep going even when I was melancholy. Nature has always been my greatest source of inspiration, and no matter where I go, I now know that I’ll surely find my very own avi-pals to fill me with the energy and passion to realize my dream. May the birds, the angelic wonders of nature, keep inspiring us forever!
I hope you enjoyed this flip-through of the initial pages in my Delft birding diary. I’ll keep writing and updating the list, so hope to meet you soon in a new post! Till we meet more birdies, Happy Birding!
Rhythms of Nature🍃☘🌊🎵... blog by Pradnya 