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September 1999

Saw the yellow backed sunbird properly.  It is beautiful.   Two mornings, a sparrow hawk perched in the garden on the short coconut tree.  It has a hooked beak and very muscular legs.  At first I confused it with the Besra sparrow hawk.

            There are a lot of dragon flies in the air and consequently, a lot of bee-eaters.  They sit mostly on the telephone wires on the roads, but occasionally one sees them flitting over the lawn – always in the early evenings.

 September 2000

            There is mist in the garden and it leaves behind droplets of water even on the furniture in the verandah.  Not too many special birds.  Many oriole pairs – mostly golden orioles.  Plenty of tree pie pairs.  They fly about the garden the whole day – and their favourite perch is the lookout tower.  Most of them have moulted their tail feathers, and they have a new gentler call too.

            The kingfisher is finally back after March end.  I  missed him.  Not sure if it’s the same one or  not.  The earlier one always sat at the edge of the swing bar, and was there every morning, and never moved.  This one had different places.  The lapwing comes briefly.  Every once in a while, it brings in a mate – who is a distinct size smaller.

            The tailor bird darts about the cycus, and the bee-eaters and the spotted doves are around as well.

            Earlier in the month I saw a pair of white headed babblers but they haven’t been back since.  On the 25^th I saw the white-bellied sea eagles.  They are huge, and two of them were fighting at the bottom of the garden.  The spotted pigeons and bulbuls are around too.

            The garden is full of tree pies.  They are in pairs and are very active.  This time I notice they even have a call that is quote melodious! Normally it is harsh.   Their long tails seem to have moulted, because some of them no longer have the tail feathers.

            There is a single male magpie robin around.  The ioras are back, and the peacocks are moving around without their beautiful tail feathers.  Plenty of bee-eaters and house martins fly around because the air is full of dragonflies.

September 2001

            I was not in the country - but I got to see the beautiful fall colours of the leaves in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the US.

September 2002

September 2003

          I've been away in the US - looks like September is not going to be my bird-watching month in the colony!