HALDI BASANTA

HALDI BASANTA this is the Oriya name of this colour full bird,in English they call it Black-Hooded Oriole.

Early morning while i was on my tarace i could hear a nice music of a bird.Being born and brought up in the forest areas of Mayurbhanj district of Odisha i am familiar with this bird but had not seen it for long time as i shifted to Bhubaneswar, which is called as concrete jungle.But the place where my house is situated was a forest area  and the natural zoo called Nandan Kanan is hardly few kilometers from my house.  Hence we are fortunate to watch different types of birds in early hours of the day.I have two mango trees yet to bear fruits even though they are old enough to have obliged us with at least one mango for me and my wife.This Haldi Basanta was spotted by my wife, who told me that "probably it has built a nest in one of our mango tree planted by me".Many people ask me to cut these big trees but i tell them at least these plants protects us from dust.This haldibasanta is a very busy bird hardly stays in one place for more than few seconds.It lives on fruits, nuts and small insects.Haldi(Turmeric) is yellow in colour hence this name, Basanta means spring,as this bird can be spotted in this breeding season hence this name--"HALADIBASANTA".Its an endangered species because of its colour people try to catch it and keep as a pet but they do not survive in captivity.Males are bigger and more colourful like all birds.My grand mother used to say the plus/beauty point is the dangerous thing for that living animals or birds.India national bird is killed for its feathers,tigers for the skin,elephants for the tusk etc.After few weeks Cuckoo or the "Kueli" will come in the beginning of summer as the mango trees blooms with  flowers, hopefully this year.