Sunday, August 5, 2012

Feast in the orchard.

The big jackfruit hangs high up on the tree, slowly ripening.  The spiky skin starts getting just a bit soft and the aroma of the ripening fruit slowly spreads heralding a bird feast.
There is a flash of bright yellow.  It's a black-headed oriole waiting for some other bird to peck open the jackfruit.  After all, pecking open a jackfruit is no easy business, what with it's spiny, thick outer skin and the gummy sap.  There is yet another flash of yellow and one more oriole joins the waiting one.  Then come the tree pies, chirping loudly.  The tree pies manage to pierce the skin and get to taste a bit of the sweetness.  Then come a pair of mynahs.  Their beaks are sharper and they make a slightly bigger inroad into the fruit.  A bunch of laughing thrushes come next, --the raucous party types.  After a while one thrush is seen wiping it's beak vigorously on the thick skin, to get rid of the chewing gummy sap.  A squirrel comes along, but finds the hole in the skin too small. His moustache would probably get stuck with all the gum!  A woodpecker is the next visitor.  He of course has the hardware to make serious inroads into the fruit.  But he chooses to work on another part of the fruit.  In the wings wait a couple of crows, the tree pies and a thrush or two.
Unfortunately for them all,  their party got pooped by a human with a long pole with a knife attached, who proceeded to cut down the jackfruit and carried off to be eaten by humans!!!  Ah well, another jackfruit would ripen soon and hopefully no human would notice.

2 comments:

  1. Ripe jackfruit can be very sweet. But it has a very gummy sap. In one fruit there are many small fruit. Here is a link to the pic of a cut jackfruit http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iqWxusPiNng/TBURsLeIgLI/AAAAAAAAApQ/bQkB2vhd0UU/s1600/cutjack.JPG

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