Red-wattled Lapwing - ટીટોડી

Red-wattled Lapwing is a bird commonly seen and found in Indian Sub-continent. Very agile, vocal and graceful bird who always protects her nest on the ground by trying to misguide intruders, which is known as the broken wing pattern.

It has a significance in Indian Mythology. The story goes that during the Mahabharata War in Kurukshetra, once a Lapwing approached Lord Krishna and asked about the safety and security of her nest on the ground, owing to the large scale destruction everywhere.  Lord Krishna, helps the little bird by putting a wheel over the nest to protect it.

This is a ground bird, it builds its nest on the ground and is astoundingly camouflaged near a water body.  It constantly guards over her nest and gives out an alarm call every now and then because of the movements of the animals and humans. In a agrarian society it also has status of farmer's friend. Call of a Lapwing during summer and monsoon helps farmers in predicting rains. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Indian Robin

Image
Indian Robins, commonly known as ' Dev Chakli ' in Gujarati, loves to live in a garden like place, with enough trees and flower beds which could supply it with insects to feed on. It is an insect eater and cleanses our garden by eating pests which normally destroys plants. So with the natural pest control at our hand, please avoid using pesticides and insecticides as that harms them.  The Robins are a beautiful sight. The male bird is black with white stripes on the edge of its wings, while the female bird is brown in colour. These are very agile birds, singing continuously and hopping around with their tails moving up and down looking for insects for their chicks. We are sharing photographs of one such Robin family in our garden with their little chicks. 
Read more

Indian Grey-neck Crow

Image
Indian Grey-neck Crows (commonly known as Kagdo or Kauva ) are found almost everywhere. Not only in a garden, but in concrete jungles too. It is actually a constant company that we find around, but are now in the list of endangered species due to excessive use of chemicals and pesticides. Crows are very social and are known to create din wherever they are. But, their presence around us marks a healthy environment. Being a scavenger bird, they play an important role in keeping our environment clean.   Crows like human company and are known to form lifelong relationship with humans. They nest on big trees and are ferocious in defending it from invaders. The crows are known for its intelligence. There are many stories dedicated to the crow. Their cousins in the forest are larger in size and darker and are called Raven. Our religious ritual of ' Kagvas ' during the ' Shraaddha ' before Aso Navratri is incomplete without the crows, as the crows symbolized to carry our offe
Read more

Flame of the Forest (Kesudo/ Palash)

Image
Months of February and March, travelling through the country side in the Indian Subcontinent, you see a spectacular change in the skyline.  Suddenly, you see forest is on fire, and then, you realize that Palash is in full bloom. Butea Monosperma, known as Palash, Kesudo and sacred tree are very significant to Indian Mythology but also has a lot of value in Ayurveda.  In our Mythology, Lord Krishna plays Holi with the Palash flowers.  During Saraswati Puja on Vasant Panchami flowers of Palash are must.  The indigenous knowledge derived through generations pins the remedial properties of Palash flowers to control various skin problems due to extreme heat in the Summers.  Leaves of a Palash tree are traditionally associated with making of biodegradable cutlery known as "patrala".  Roots of the tree has medicinal properties while the trunk of the tree is used as fire wood.  Although, bright orange is the colour that is associated with Palash, you can find some variations of colou
Read more