Birdwatchers write

On investigating a huge commotion by crows one November morning, I found one Red-winged Crested Cuckoo crouching in a corner of the wall on the ground, terrified by the mobbing crows. It allowed me to pick it up and placed it in a cardboard box in my flat balcony. Soon it jumped off, having apparently found its strength, and with strong healthy wing-beats flew through the open door onto a mango tree (which has good foliage to hide). Hopefully, it will find its way to Guindy Park safely, and then on to its ultimate destination, Sri Lanka.

– Thyagarajan

I heard the Pitta today one October morning at the Theosophical Society. And an answering call from the KFI School compound. Am looking out for the other migrants (Orange headed Ground Thrush, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Brown breasted Flycatcher, Paradise Flycatcher) which should also have arrived.

– Geetha Jaikumar

All of them have arrived. Regularly seen in IIT and GNP.

– Rama Neelamagam

The Pittas have been spotted in the city at various houses, often injured. The one that my sister and her daughters rescued from their garden was quite dehydrated, and had an injured wing.
Later, two more friends found injured Pittas in their back yards, in different parts of Chennai; in fact one was found outside the ‘Cupcakes Amore’ Cafe in Alwarpet.
No idea what is going on.

– Kaveri Bharath

Have been seeing or hearing the paradise flycatcher at TS from mid-October.

– Gayathree Krishnan

Have been hearing the Pitta (a couple) in IITM in October. Seen one in flight… seen and heard the Brown Flycatcher, Paradise Flycatcher.

– Mymoon M

I saw the Forest Wagtails and the Orange-headed Thrush almost daily in October in KFI. Saw all three of them – the Wagtail, Pitta and OH Thrush in November. Colleagues of mine have been seeing the Paradise Flycatchers regularly.

– Chithra V.

Heard a Pitta in Kalashetra in October. Would love to see Forest Wagtails.

-Tara Gandhi

Some wise definitions

Atom Bomb: An invention to bring an end to all inventions.
Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.
Cigarette: A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool at the other!
Classic: A book which people praise, but never read.
Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.
Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.
Conference Room: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on
Dictionary: A place where divorce comes before marriage.
Diplomat: A person who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you actually took forward to the trip.
Doctor: A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by is bills!
Ecstasy: A feeling when you feel you are going to feel a feeling you have never felt before
Etc.: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.
Experience: The name men give to their mistakes.
Father: A banker provided by nature.
Lecture: An art of transmitting Information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of students without passing through the minds of either.
Marriage: It’s an agreement wherein a man loses his bachelor’s degree and a woman gains her master’s.
Miser: A person who lives poor so that he can die RICH!
Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.
Opportunist: A person who starts taking a bath if he accidentally falls into a river.
Optimist: A person who while falling from the Eiffel Tower says midway, “SEE, I AM NOT INJURED YET!”
Pessimist: A person who says that 0 is the last letter in ZERO, Instead of the first letter in OPPORTUNITY.
Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead.
Politician: One who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence later
Smile: A curve that can set a lot of things straight!
Tears: The hydraulic force by which masculine will power is defeated by feminine water-power!
Yawn: The only time when some married men ever get to open their mouth.