Wednesday, 15 April 2020

Covid19 Lockdown Diaries



Covid19 Lockdown Diaries




Goutam Bhattacharya, Delhi 11th April, 2020

Another day passed and we hear that the lockdown will be extended. Didn’t hear the announcement yet. Means we must find more meaningful work at home.
Delhi has a lot of trees all around the city and there are few forest areas as well that covers more than 10% of the City. The trees that we see on a regular basis are – Alstonia, Mango, Ashoka, Neem, Palm, Banyan, Pipal, Kadamb, Sal, Sehgun (Teak), Gulmohor, Jacaranda, Imli, Jamun and the list goes on.
I was trying to see how many of them we can see from our windows, balcony and terraces and what I got is in the pictures. I am not an expert, though I can positively identify a few of them – leaving it to the experts and the inquisitive folks to find out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Goutam Bhattacharya, Delhi 9th April, 2020

Last three days haven’t taken much pictures. Rather have been trying to keep fit. My fitness plan is with a jumping rope, which has a counter.
Today I decided not to take out my camera, so went to our balcony with my morning cup of tea. That brown headed barbet came to the nearby tree and started cleaning it’s feathers for quite some time, kept on looking at me occasionally.
Then came the yellow footed green pigeon pair, and sat on the top branch of the neem tree and almost was giving a pose for photography. I felt they were asking me - where is your camera today?
Evening on the rooftop, I go for jumping exercise and during this time, I only look at the kites flying high. The group only flies high on days when there is a breeze, this means they use the thermal to float around.
After my daily count of seven hundred jumps, I walk around for some time. Saw the egret flying past and then noticed the purple sunbird came and sat on a wire nearby. This bird looks black from a distance, but when sunlight falls, it shines bright blue. This time, I felt surely this one is telling me – see I am so near and sitting for so long and you don’t have the camera. I have never seen this bird sitting in the same position for more than three seconds.
The bulbuls came at dusk and sat on the water tank – couple of meters away from me maintaining social distancing.
That ended my day with nature today.
I will write about the tree that dropped all its leaves and now getting dressed with new leaves tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Goutam Bhattacharya, Delhi, 6th April, 2020

Today sixth of April, T-Twenty woke up at seven in the morning and looked around. First thing caught my eyes was the sleeping squirrel. This character slept on the tree branch for almost an hour before another, probably senior squirrel came and chased it down the tree.
Oh, why T-Twenty ? – this year is like a game of T20 cricket, everything is uncertain but everyone has an opinion about it. Experts are confused but betting is on and to bring cheer to the players we are beating utensils and lighting torches and even fireworks.
Anyway coming back to my morning experience today from the veranda (where we lighted candle yesterday) I saw parakeets, bulbuls, mynas, the crow, our regular pigeons, the tailor bird and green pigeons. And of course a few kites flying high up in the sky. Yesterday I caught a glimpse of the barbet and the purple sunbird.
But the best was the squirrels today, noticed them for almost an hour and they didn’t disappoint me at all. Now putting up a few pictures here that I could manage with my limited photography skills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Goutam Bhattacharya, Delhi, 4th April, 2020

Nature around
Delhi is still enjoying the last few days of comfort before the summer. On top of it this lockdown has added a feel of the vacations we used to enjoy during our school days.
Three four days since the lockdown started were quite normal and then I started feeling the necessity of doing some exercise.
So started going to the rooftop for strolling and noticed many birds around.
Generally we see Crows, Pigeons and Common Mynas, sometimes even the kite.
This time I am pleasantly surprised seeing so many species of birds so near our home.
Bulbuls, Parakeets, Sparrows, Lapwings, Shikras, Barbets, Green Pigeons, Doves, Egrets, Cormorants, Tailor Birds, Sunbirds and one or two more that I couldn’t identify were all seen from our rooftop or from the balcony.
I am now looking forward to more such sighting and taking photographs. Will post here later when I get some good shots.
Those of you who like nature, look for these creatures around and let all of us know what you find. It will be an interesting activity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No comments:

Post a Comment