Unusual Guest in my House: A Migratory Bird, Black Redstart or Laal Girdi

· by · in Photography. ·

A number of birds, mostly, sparrows, pigeons, crows and occasionally a couple of parrots visit us in the morning as we feed them. A few days ago, I observed a new guest. It was a small bird, kept quivering its tail in a strange manner almost all the time. A passerine it is, (passerines are those birds with a particular arrangement of their toes, three pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching) and is quite shy.

I was clueless about its name and so, posted a picture on Facebook. It needed a lot of patience to capture a decent picture of the bird. However, after posting the picture, I came to know, as one of my friends enlightened me, that it’s called Black Redstart. In India, they are not common to be seen in urban areas. It’s mainly a winter migrant to the Indian subcontinent. For the continuous quivering of its tail, it’s called Thirthira Kampa or Phirphira in Hindi and Laal-girdi in Bengali. They reside in rocky terrains and hilly areas and are known to breed in the Himalayas.

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Every winter they come to my city
To find some warmth, to sing some ditty
Their soft feathers painted by sun’s lazy rays
The cool breeze revives their days.

They’ve come a long way to seek good life
For the sake of love, they blend it with strife.
A thousand mile they cover to reach my side
Stale city air, there’s no place to hide!

Still, they fly, still, they chirp
They are Nature’s own harp.
Their flight is a treat to the eyes
The beauty of Nature, there it lies.

100 responses to “Unusual Guest in my House: A Migratory Bird, Black Redstart or Laal Girdi”

  2. Pingback: Birds We See Around: Black Redstart | Scattered Thoughts·

  3. This is such a beautiful poem, dear Mani… the other day I was thinking exactly the same (or thinking similarly that you do in your poem) … The distance birds fly… the hard work they put to build the nests, considering how smalll they are… Also my mom is a bird fan… And she always leave bread to the birds as she once read that birds spend more than half of their lives searching for food! … sigh… lovely share! … sending much love & wishing you happy holidays my friend ⭐

    Liked by 1 person

    • Glad to know that our wavelengths resonate here, Aquileana 🙂 Birds are beautiful, watching them is a great time-pass. And, just think about the tenacity and strength of these small creatures as they fly thousands of miles in search of food or a better climate.

      Thanks for stopping by…. wishing you wonderful holidays ahead… ❤ ❤

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  8. Another piece of excellent work. This time, it is your poem which showcases your thoughts that emanated the moment you saw this little bird. Maniparna, there used to be a time when I also used to write poems. I wrote a poem on the life of a train. I would like to narrate two lines from it – “Never before have I been such a jocund company,
    Wheeling by, I whistle to the tune of nature’s symphony”. I hope you liked it.

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  12. Lovely. The bird does look really sweet! and fluffy too! LOL. Do you live far from the Himalayas? For them to migrate down from there…that’s a really cool thing.

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  16. Dear aficionado : great post . You perhaps already know I am collecting notices all around the world in order the disappearing of sparrows. Here in Venice and mainland it is almost three years that they are disappeared. I am very happy that in your country still are presents so beautiful animals. Are you perhaps noticed if the number of them is increased or diminished or not. Thanks if reply. Hugs from Italy.

    Ciao.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Rinaldo, Sparrows do come to my house in the morning. In many Indian cities, they have disappeared, but here, in Kolkata, (Calcutta) they still manage to thrive. Fortunately, their numbers are increasing as well…about 15/18 sparrows make the morning happier with their chirpings… 🙂

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  27. What a beautiful bird! I don’t blame him to venture away from rural areas to be close to a lovely soul such as you. He’ll probably be visiting again since you’ve written such a sweet ode to your new, winged friend.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Hi Maniparna
    Yet again you enthral us with your wonderfully creative writing. The bird is undubitably adorable and your words beautiful! I love the description of its feathers… ” soft feathers painted by sun’s lazy rays”

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  33. A lovely shot of a rarely seen bird…Thank you Mani for sharing it and writing wonderful words for it…as if you could read its mind! Well, that’s why poet’s are called fantastic dreamers.

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    • The link shows the picture of a bird with less red. I don’t have much idea about birds, honestly. I think the colour and the size may vary depending on the envronment…maybe… 🙂
      Thanks for the link, Hariod. I love to see pictures of birds but, forget their names eventually… 😦

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