Stories
Displaying 6-10 of 11 result(s).
Usha Lachungpa -
Sikkim House, Middleton Street Elgin Kolkata West Bengal
Had to spend a day (10 April'12) at Kolkata and halted at Sikkim House on Middleton Street, a relatively busy area between Camac Street and Park Street. There is much greenery in the adjacent compound (Kankaria's), besides scattered trees including along roadsides in the surrounding areas. We saw a few House Sparrows in and around Sikkim House as well as on Camac Street and some nearby areas. Again despite my conscious scanning, of the 10 odd birds seen, ALL were MALES; only one was a female. Am beginning to take this aspect somewhat more seriously.
Had to spend a day (10 April'12) at Kolkata and halted at Sikkim House on Middleton Street, a relatively busy area between Camac Street and Park Street. There is much greenery in the adjacent compound (Kankaria's), besides scattered trees including along roadsides in the surrounding areas. We saw a few House Sparrows in and around Sikkim House as well as on Camac Street and some nearby areas. Again despite my conscious scanning, of the 10 odd birds seen, ALL were MALES; only one was a female. Am beginning to take this aspect somewhat more seriously.
Usha Lachungpa -
Sikkim Nationalized Transport Bus Terminus Siliguri West Bengal
SNT bus terminus, Siliguri, West Bengal, is where all Sikkim buses and taxis (usually jeeps)halt. My daughter Minla and I visited this place on 9th and 11th April on our way to and from Kolkata. Both times we saw sparrows (mostly males, around 15-20 in all) fearlessly darting between vehicles to pick up tidbits or flying around or perching visibly. Their chirping is also very audible, also from nearby trees, many of which hum with activity during evening roosting time. No one was bothering them or bothering about them (which is usually the case!). In fact we have always seen sparrows here from as far back as 1980, our first visit to Sikkim. So they seem very safe here. Hopefully. BUT where were the FEMALES? Other common birds sighted on these two days were House Crows, Common Mynas, Black Drongo, Black Kites.
SNT bus terminus, Siliguri, West Bengal, is where all Sikkim buses and taxis (usually jeeps)halt. My daughter Minla and I visited this place on 9th and 11th April on our way to and from Kolkata. Both times we saw sparrows (mostly males, around 15-20 in all) fearlessly darting between vehicles to pick up tidbits or flying around or perching visibly. Their chirping is also very audible, also from nearby trees, many of which hum with activity during evening roosting time. No one was bothering them or bothering about them (which is usually the case!). In fact we have always seen sparrows here from as far back as 1980, our first visit to Sikkim. So they seem very safe here. Hopefully. BUT where were the FEMALES? Other common birds sighted on these two days were House Crows, Common Mynas, Black Drongo, Black Kites.
Usha Lachungpa -
OPD of STNM Hospital Gangtok Sikkim
Extracts from old 2003 article in local newspapers on TREE, not House Sparrows: Pl remove if not appropriate:
SINGING TREES: It was uncanny, but the Out Patients Department of our government hospital STNM, Gangtok, seemed immune to the magic of birdsong on its doorstep. The steady streams of vehicles, the piercing whistles of the traffic policeman, the chatting of passers-by……..hardly anyone paid heed to the cheery chirping of scores of tree sparrows as they prepared to roost for the evening in the lone ‘Dhupi’ tree outside. Apparently they too were unaware that all hospital areas should be ‘Silence Zones’!
Almost every urban area has several such ‘singing trees’. I looked up the trunk of this particularly lonely tree and showed my children what none seemed to notice. In the darkness of the foliage, tiny fluffy brown bodies dotted every thin branch. The whole tree was alive with these invisible bundles of energy. It was around 4.00pm and going to be dark in a while, but as we watched more and more of these little birds dived into its shelter. Not one could be seen outside the tight foliage of this exotic tree. Like perfume, the tree was exuding all this song! And no one was listening. It was amazing that none of the human traffic underneath so much as even noticed all that cheerful commotion over their heads as they passed beneath. How immune one gets!.....
Extracts from old 2003 article in local newspapers on TREE, not House Sparrows: Pl remove if not appropriate:
SINGING TREES: It was uncanny, but the Out Patients Department of our government hospital STNM, Gangtok, seemed immune to the magic of birdsong on its doorstep. The steady streams of vehicles, the piercing whistles of the traffic policeman, the chatting of passers-by……..hardly anyone paid heed to the cheery chirping of scores of tree sparrows as they prepared to roost for the evening in the lone ‘Dhupi’ tree outside. Apparently they too were unaware that all hospital areas should be ‘Silence Zones’!
Almost every urban area has several such ‘singing trees’. I looked up the trunk of this particularly lonely tree and showed my children what none seemed to notice. In the darkness of the foliage, tiny fluffy brown bodies dotted every thin branch. The whole tree was alive with these invisible bundles of energy. It was around 4.00pm and going to be dark in a while, but as we watched more and more of these little birds dived into its shelter. Not one could be seen outside the tight foliage of this exotic tree. Like perfume, the tree was exuding all this song! And no one was listening. It was amazing that none of the human traffic underneath so much as even noticed all that cheerful commotion over their heads as they passed beneath. How immune one gets!.....
Usha Lachungpa -
STNM (Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial) Hospital Complex STNM Hospital COmplex Gangtok Sikkim
This afternoon, as I left the Emergency Room of the STNM Hospital after my 3rd dose of Rabies vaccine, I saw this male House Sparrow alight before a parked vehicle. As I fumbled in my bag for my camera, it hopped under the front bumper and brought down what looked like a winged termite. Luckily I could take a couple of quick photos before it flew off. Nearby perched on the air-conditioner box were some Eurasian Tree Sparrows chirping away. Good to see that my joint group of House and Tree Sparrows still live amicably at STNM Hospital complex!!
This afternoon, as I left the Emergency Room of the STNM Hospital after my 3rd dose of Rabies vaccine, I saw this male House Sparrow alight before a parked vehicle. As I fumbled in my bag for my camera, it hopped under the front bumper and brought down what looked like a winged termite. Luckily I could take a couple of quick photos before it flew off. Nearby perched on the air-conditioner box were some Eurasian Tree Sparrows chirping away. Good to see that my joint group of House and Tree Sparrows still live amicably at STNM Hospital complex!!
Usha Lachungpa -
Mahatma Gandhi Road, Gangtok Gangtok Sikkim
There was a big colony of House Sparrows at Melli Bazar, South Sikkim in 1988 (strange because Salim Ali did not come across it in Sikkim during his surveys), while Eurasian Tree Sparrows were common higher up in Gangtok. I first saw House Sparrows in Gangtok in 1990. It was a pair on MG Road the heart of Gangtok above a photography shop called Panorama and commented to my husband Ganden that someone must have released them or they were escapes, as they were not supposed to occur here. Today one can see more of them living comfortably with the Tree Sparrows and I wonder if they are interbreeding as there was a big mixed flock in the STNM Hospital Complex, a stone's throw from MG Road. Some time back I observed House and Tree Sparrows at the VIP Colony gate, above Gangtok, at about 2000m. Sign of global warming? In the Forest Colony where I live, about a km from MG Rd, we also have Russet Sparrows. Ali Hussain had caught some in BNHS mist nets and we ringed them around 1996. That makes it three Sparrow species in Gangtok itself!
There was a big colony of House Sparrows at Melli Bazar, South Sikkim in 1988 (strange because Salim Ali did not come across it in Sikkim during his surveys), while Eurasian Tree Sparrows were common higher up in Gangtok. I first saw House Sparrows in Gangtok in 1990. It was a pair on MG Road the heart of Gangtok above a photography shop called Panorama and commented to my husband Ganden that someone must have released them or they were escapes, as they were not supposed to occur here. Today one can see more of them living comfortably with the Tree Sparrows and I wonder if they are interbreeding as there was a big mixed flock in the STNM Hospital Complex, a stone's throw from MG Road. Some time back I observed House and Tree Sparrows at the VIP Colony gate, above Gangtok, at about 2000m. Sign of global warming? In the Forest Colony where I live, about a km from MG Rd, we also have Russet Sparrows. Ali Hussain had caught some in BNHS mist nets and we ringed them around 1996. That makes it three Sparrow species in Gangtok itself!
