Honest & dedicated green engineers

Hindustan Times

11-05-2025

The brown-headed barbet or large green barbet is an animated bird of our gardens. Known in native cultures as the 'Bada basanta', the barbet sets off an incessant call, kor-r-r, kutroo-kutroo-kutroo, with the first whiff of basant's warmth. The call is instantly responded to by others of the barbet 'baradari' and soon an ear-piercing chorus resounds across the groves, somewhat reminiscent of faraway and dreaded sirens of Covid lockdown and the Pakistani drone/ missile crisis!
The barbet and the woodpecker are two of the ecological or ecosystem engineers in our groves. They excavate nest holes in trees. Other birds such as parrots, owls and mynas look for nest holes excavated by woodpeckers and barbets as they themselves do not have the wherewithal such as powerful large bills and shock-absorber adaptations to their skulls. Barbets can also avoid the very arduous task of hole drilling by grabbing a nest cavity freshly drilled by a woodpecker!
Both the barbets take turns to drill the nest hole and later share in incubation duties. Between two to four eggs are laid by the female and the nesting season is normally in the months of March to May. The nest is sometimes bare at the bottom of the hole or lined with some of the wood chips carved out by the parents. Anuj Jain, an apparel retailer of Sector 17 and an accomplished wildlife photographer, has had the good fortune of barbets nesting right opposite his Sector 18 residence.
'In March 2020, during the Covid lockdown, I spotted a barbet spitting out wood chips while excavating a nest in a tree right in front of my house. I was fortunate to capture a few photos at the time. It wasn't until more than five years later that I witnessed something similar again. This time, a pair was taking turns preparing their nest. One would spend less than five minutes chiseling the wood, while the other waited right at the entrance, ready to switch. It was mesmerising to watch the dedicated parents work tirelessly through the day to make the nest suitable for future progeny,' Jain told this writer.
The myth of the Sarus pair
In a social era of relationships breaking down all too soon, a sensitive artist can despair at human reality. The rupture with the ideal of long, enduring relationships particularly when it comes to marital fidelity is all too evident. Manifestations of nature may seem to nurture the waning human ideal.
An oil on canvas by Mumbai artist Pradeep L Mishra displayed a richness of colour and vividly evoked the Sarus coupling, whose life seems one of perfect unison. His work, Live to Love, was on display at the exhibition, Art through Print and Paint --- An exploration of how artists engage with materials and how textures, layers, and processes shape meaning. The exhibition was curated by the AIM Gallery and staged at the Government Museum and Art Gallery.
'My works seek inspiration from nature's themes. My concerns stemming from contemporary human social life affect me deeply and reflect in my works. Why can't we seem to have enduring relationships? Why are we causing each other so much unhappiness by not adjusting to each other? I painted the Sarus pair to showcase how these birds form enduring bonds, which has inspired folklore and cultural themes,' Mishra told this writer.
The twist in the artist's pictorial tale is delivered by real birds. Scientific data collection and field observation disproves popular folklore and reveals cases of divorce (separation) in Sarus cranes. Wild cranes can remain paired for life, but they can engage in extra-pair mating, too. Mate change is known in almost all crane species in captivity, some of whom are similarly anointed with the myth of 'I'll be loving you eternally'.
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