Our Balcony is a Bird Sanctuary Now!

We have many flowering plants like Hibiscus in our balcony. A net prevents pigeons coming into the balcony. We were surprised by small birds that sneak in through the net. They love to suck nectar from the Hibiscus flowers. The most interesting birds are the bulbuls, which are a bit like the North American Mockingbird.

In fact, a pair of bulbuls were bold enough to weave a beautiful nest on the branches of our red Hibiscus plant. The nest looked like a basket that could fit into the palm of my hand.

The bulbuls must have felt safe in our balcony. It is a quiet place which is empty most of the time. We leave a small plastic plate in the balcony with pieces of fruit for the bulbuls every day. We also leave a plastic plate with water near the food. Bulbuls like only soft and sweet fruits like papayas. They will eat banana if they have no choice. They find Guava hard to eat and will touch them only if nothing else is there.

Bulbuls have good eyesight. They sit on tree branches in the garden. If they find the balcony is empty for some time, they fly in and eat some fruit.

Feeding these birds is better than keeping a pet. The birds in the balcony fly out and spend most of the time free in their natural home on the trees. They are easy to feed and never make a mess in our balcony.

Srinivasan Ramani