It is 9.30 am.  I was sitting out on my verandah when I saw a pale coloured bird fly into the divi-divi tree near me and two crows coming after it.  Minutes later a tree pie flew there too.    When I looked carefully, I realised the pale bird was a female Indian cuckoo--the koel.  So naturally the crows were chasing it.  But I couldn't quite see what the tree pie had to do there.  Soon the tree pie flew off screaming.  A little later the koel flew off and the crows sat there very triumphantly.

Strange sight

Today, I was in a car, near Cochin/Kochi, passing over a bridge, when I saw the strangest sight; in the air I could see a big bird--looked like a hawk, but may have been only a crow, and a much smaller bird flying very close to each other.  At first I thought the bigger bird was intent on catching the smaller bird.  But then, as I watched, it looked almost as though the smaller bird was trying to take a ride on the bigger bird's back or else just plain harassing that bigger bird, or chasing it.  Now there is a small black bird, with a swallow like tail, which attacks crow.  But I couldn't see any evidence of a tail like that.  Wish I could have watched longer to know what was going on..........

I am back home, where it never snows and temperatures are always (in Centigrade)between the 20s and about 32, which means small animals and birds can always hang out.  So, pre noon, I hear a knock knock and know for sure it's a woodpecker.  I rush out to see if I can spy it.  My rushing scares of a small bird who I notice only from the corner of my eye (and hence could not identify).  In a tree across from where I stand, I see first one and then a second tree pie, in their sandalwood and white plumage.  An oh-so elegant racket-tailed drongo sits lower down, his feathers glossy black that it's almost midnight blue--much glossier than I remember--his beautiful tail quivering.  Ah the bird life.  It's nice to be back.

Last day, winter 2014 here.

Today is the last day of our stay here in Chicagoland this winter.  Luckily it's been a great day weather wise, much warmer (actually a few degrees above 0C after a long while of below 0!!) and so I went for a last walk around the lake.  I was hoping to feed the ducks.  But the path was too scarily icy for me to venture near where the ducks are usually to be found.  The snow has melted a bit and the lake looks patchy with ice......

You can see geese/duck footprints on the ice--just about.  Skating is forbidden on the lake, possibly because ice would be very thin.
I will miss the lake and the pretty area around it where my son lives.

A wintry phonophoto.

Frost on the window.  The delicate laciness fascinates me!

The snow in the Chicago area, particularly near my son's place, has been quite heavy.  But I was still able to spot a cardinal--what a glow it leaves, that deep red against the snow--and hear an owl hoot, just like I had read in books--tu whit towoo oo.  The owls back home have a different sort of hoot I think.
in spite of heavy snow, the squirrel is usually out and about.  he eats from the bird feeder of a nearby house and probably has a stash stocked away too.  I saw wild geese honking overheard too.  They stay on the lake near the house. But alas there are no photographs.

This time around, on our US trip, the Nature that I observed is so different.  It has been very cold and snowy, with freeing temperatures and icy rain too.  The wildlife right outside my son's house is, naturally, reduced.  I see the squirrels out the most, whether it's snowing, or lightly raining, even if it's very cold and on some grey days too.  But the birds come out only when weather is not extreme.  I have seen an occasional robin and some smaller birds.  Near the nearby lake, the ducks are still around.  When we arrived in November, the lake was not frozen over and I saw ducks and geese out in the middle of the lake.  There were still a few birds aroudn too.  Then, after the first snow, the couple of times I went out by the lake, I saw birds only once, on a sunny though icy day.  But the ducks are still there.  The other day I went for a walk, walking very gingerly, so that I wouldn't slip.  The path was very icy in places. Parts of the lake had melted.  At one point on my walk, where there was a small pond among trees, where the ice was completely melted, there were a whole gathering of ducks and when they saw me, a number of them walked out.  I think they thought I was going to feed them.  Possibly there are folks who come by and feed them and that is why they are so relaxed with people.  I was so sorry that I did not have anything for them.
Last night I had gone for a service at 8-30 pm.  When I was returning at around 9.30 with my son I was really surprised to see a hare jumping through the snow.  I didn't realise that they would be out and about in winter and that too at night.  I have looked to see if they have been in my son's backyard, but I hadn't noticed one.  Probably they have been out, but I have not been out in the back as much because of the snow and cold.
I love how the fir trees look when it snows; I love the snowflakes and the shapes that Jack Frost makes on the windows; I love the starkness of the landscape too.    The only thing I have missed is seeing the Fall colours.  We missed it by a couple of weeks I think.
When I get back to my warm and always green home area, I will miss this landscape and cold a bit I am sure.  Well, i have seen that Nature is beautiful whatever garb she dons.