Gitie's blog

When you suffer from any sort of sleep disorder nothing else seems so important as a good night’s rest.

 We've been observing the wild birds who live freely in the trees around our home for ten years.  Many of them are our friends. We know them by name, shape, looks and habits.  They all know their names and each others' names.  They call the one we ask for, often going into the valley to find them and bring them back.

Many naturalists say that the different species don't interact with each other.  But our experience and observations tell us otherwise.  The birds have amazing friendships with birds from other species, even other animals and certainly with us humans.  They are

Different species of birds have different needs regarding access to water and plants.  The extent and diversity of their territories and feeding habits influence their visiting times.  But even more interestingly the ability to negotiate their visiting and access rights with other birds who are considered by them as the rightful owners of the territory has a major impact on their movements.

Click here to read more.

  Communicating successfully with someone from a different species, who is not only not dependent on you, but also flies off in a flash if they don't like the sound of your voice, brings its own suite of challenges. In this series, we look at each of the five major aspects of communicating with wild birds.  These involve making them familiar with our speech patterns, listening to learn, understanding our bird's response, building trust, and allowing the friendship to develop.  In the previous issue we covered the importance of making the wild birds feel comfortable in your presence, showing them that you care about their welfare and wish to make friends.  
 
In this article we look at the art of listening to the birds.  Listening is much more than just enjoying their songs.  True listening requires us to understand the information they are trying to convey in their language to their family, community, intruders and also their friends which now hopefully includes you. 

Click here for the rest of the article.

Koels are shy and elusive birds.  They tend to hide behind the thick foliage of fruit trees, hoping no one notices them while they eat their fill. The slightest hint that they are being watched causes them to fly off and find a more remote spot.