Spotted Munia nest at our home

Our utility space has a little garden of five planters with Tulasi, Doddapatre, Marigold, Chilly and Aloe Vera. The chilly plant is a rare variety called Jeerige Menasinakayi which is small and grows upright. They turn red as they ripe. Bulbuls come and eat the red ones. So now I know that besides parrots, bulbuls too like chilly. Recently we noticed that another type of bird had taken to our chilly plant which turned out to be Spotted Munia also called Nutmeg Finch.

 

In the past two weeks the spotted Munia have been checking out the exhaust fan vent in our utility area. They would perch on the plants, fly in, hover around and then dash out. About Five or six days back, the birds started bringing blades of grass and grass shoots. They had selected our utility as their nest site.

They occupied the exhaust fan vent. Three days back, a clump of grass was dangling. We pushed it up with our mop stick. By evening, the grass was on the floor. We moved it from the floor to the planters but the birds did not recycle, they wanted fresh leaves. They got busy flying out and returning with green grass and still continue to do that.

They work in pairs. While one is out foraging, the other one keeps a watch. I've seen them make a trip every minute... swift workers. At times, both fly out and return after several minutes and then the frequent trips happen.

Looks like they were resting.

Then another bird joined them. Looks like the other bird has come to help the pair. 

Its nice to see them flying in, hovering, perching on the plants or grills and sometimes chirping. Looks like they are readying a nest to grow their family. Eagerly waiting to see what they do next.

 

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African Tulip buds and flowers

 A 50' African Tulip tree stands next to our apartment building. August is the time it's in full bloom. The tree wears a healthy look with thick dark green leaves, golden-green water filled buds and bright orange-yellow flowers.

This is one of the many clusters of buds spread out equally across the tree. The young buds are basically bags of water, the liquid has a mild odor and has a slight tint of yellow. As kids we plucked the buds, made a small hole at the tip and squirted the liquid on friends. The only name we knew for this plant was ucche kai gida. The proper name in Kannada is Neeru Kayi Mara. As the buds mature, the petals develop but the liquid remains.

A older cluster of buds. Most are matured and ready to flower.

Here we have a flower emerging from a bud. The petal is wet and dripping water. So with every new flower, the tree lets out little water. I think birds drink this liquid.

A pair of fully exposed flowers. This is a single petal flower, its orange on the exterior and orange-yellow inside.

On the inner side of the petals are vertical red lines.

In this cluster, one of the flowers have lived its life and fallen away. The open bud stays for another day or two before falling away.

The outer buds flower and fall away making way for the inner ones.

This tree has many winged visitors... mynas, bulbuls, munias, and others. They seem to come for the water inside the buds and flowers.

Clusters spread around the tree.

After flowering, the tree is covered with pods of seeds. The pods are kayak shaped, approximately 8 to 10 inches long. Inside are seeds with a delicate paper like feather which helps the seed afloat in air and disperse. Unlimited wonders of Nature.
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52 km bicycle ride

We have been cycling since March-2021. The ride duration & length had seen a gradual increase. Our rides were usually in 20s, 30s and 40s. Time we attempted a 50 km ride. Zigzagging around the city isn't a good idea to touch 50 km mark, it had to be outside the city. So I planned Hubli-Dharwad-Hubli ride. Our ride started at 4-15 am. We rode non-stop till Keshvapur cross at Hubli. It was a five minute break. By 5-40 am we were passing by Hubli railway station. The return journey was mostly uphill, progress was slower. Our next stop was near Mayura Aditya Resort, Navalur. Again the break was short. Despite the long ride, we were still under 40 km. So we decided to touch Police HQ and return. Yes, that worked. We crossed the 50 km mark... 52.30 km as per the tracking app.

We'd ridden our mountain bikes. With broader tires, the friction is higher compared to the sleeker tires of hybrid bikes. I must try the same route / distance with a hybrid bike. I expect the duration would be considerably lesser. 
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a few snaps of July 3rd sky

These are a few pictures of the sky at after a rain. Sun was approaching the horizon when the clouds cleared partially creating a rainbow on the eastern side. The rainbow lasted 15 minutes or so until heavy cloud movements created spectacular scenes.

The silver-gold colored clouds on the western side.

Gradually silver gave way to gold. 

Panning to the left.. the golden light lit up the thick grey clouds.

At this moment... trying to imagine the sunset at Kelageri lake... it would be a sight to behold. 

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Singapore Daisy

 

Singapore Daisy is one of the easiest plants to grow, it requires least maintenance. Just plant a cutting and it keeps growing. It just needs water, sunshine and ground to spread itself. It is usually planted next to walls or along the side of buildings. When this plant flowers, the entire plant bed looks a green-yellow carpet. The flowers are pretty and lasts for a week. The flowers along with a finger length stem can be placed in a vase with water, as a simple decoration for a study table.

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red lily in full bloom

A decade ago I'd captured white, pink and orange lilies at Karnataka University botanical garden. I might have seen them inbetween then and now however nothing like the plant which bore six lilies at the same time. The tuber like roots had been planted about three years back. The plant never bore flowers until this time. I guess good rains changed the plant's mode and lo, here we are looking at bright red flowers and two buds from one single stem.

Jun-26-2021

The next day it had become five flowers.

Jun-27-2021

After two days, it was six. Its a rare thing to find six flowers emerging from one stem. The petals are thick and heavy. These flowers stay fresh for ten to fifteen days,= depending on climatic conditions.

Jun-29-2021

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