Birds, Nature & Me - 3

Actually this post is like an "Essay" which we used to write in the classroom when we were in school-age (something like "Write an essay about your favorite blah blah blah"). Yes. It is really the same like this. Everyone has their favorite things perhaps these can be cloths, cars, small tools, ornaments, foods, pets, animals and it can be varied. In fact, I love nature in general; sky, mountain ranges, trees and plats, flowers and faunas etc.. but especially I love more to animals those in natural habitats, wild. Nature in the Nature has already their own beauty..

Since I was in my childhood, growing in typical small town in central Myanmar, I love to touch the nature in different way. If there is question asking "how did you start to love the nature and who did you to love it?", my answer is all about my father who is my knowledge bank (until now). Since I started talk and made uncountable questions to him, he answers and (always) satisfied me. He told me uncountable numbers of stories related to nature, culture, religion, beliefs, history, and many of subjects which are still stuck in my mind.


Once I asked a question, the answer come out from him with various facts and quotations. He can not even stop :) Sometime I said, father that is more than enough for me. If I write about my father, it would become like Arabian Tales (for one thousand and one night perhaps even more). He is my hero and ever the best father of mine.

When I was in middle school (secondary school), I used to study in early morning about 4 am onwards which is the best time to study and for me to get more concentration. I used to studied until before breakfast. The weather is usually cool in the small town of typical dry zone in central Myanmar. My father always wake me up for my early morning study and he never went back to sleep (he just waiting probably reading a book with a pot of Myanmar tea) and accompany me. After awhile we started to hear beautiful songs singing from the guava tree inside our house compound. The song had quite high tone and beautiful melody (I notice it is eight to 14 diffient tone and melody). I asked what kind of bird is it. He said "Nget Kyar (ငွက္ က်ား - actualy there is another bird with same name which is completely different - water bird) also known as Tha Baik Lwal (သ ပိတ္ လြယ္)". The color of the bird is only Black & White (it can be varied) and the feature is a bird caring an alm bow (Buddhist monks equipment). Later after twenty over years, once I joined Myanmar Birds & Nature Society, I knew it is called "Magpie Robin" precisely the birds I saw are "Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)".

Our family relocated to the capital city in Yangon over a decade ago, we were in subarbs of Yangon in a narrow apartment of 6 storied building. I lost my lovely songs for years. Then after we settled down in newly established town - outskirt of Yangon city center (about 20 kilometers). We grew some plants and trees in our house compound. Again, I started to get back my favourite birds singing as "Moning Section Music (မ နက္ ခ်ိန္ ခါ ေတး သံ သာ)".

***

Oriental Magpie Robin
The Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus Saularis) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Distributed in many parts of tropical South and Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds.


Ref:-
- Wikipedia

Photos were taken from below sources and posted in this post before but after insisted by the original photographer, I deleted from the post accordingly. (updated on 2226 hrs local time, 18 March 2011).

- www.birdfinders.co.uk
- redzlan.blogspot.com
- Flickr