The urban kingfisher

Kingfishers are not uncommon where I live. These days they even come and perch on cable and electricity wires high up in the sky and from there make their shrill calls.

Often I have seen a fisher meditating on a low branch next to a pond take a sudden swoop into the water. It emerges in a jiffy with a flash of turquoise, triumphant, a fish in its beak. Today was more interesting. This particular specimen was perched on a cable wire near a tarred road. Suddenly it swooped down low on to the road surface, picked up something in its beak and went back to its original wiry perch. Just another example of how birds adapt to the urban environment.

(Photo clicked elsewhere by me)

Fried eggs anyone?

Oncoba Spinosa, also known as Fried Egg tree. Member of the Willow family, a healthy specimen of this flourishes in Pune.




 

Indian Hog Plum

Known in Marathi as Ambada, a specimen tree is found in Pune in the vicinity of Law College. Native to the tropical Americas, the fruit pulp is either eaten fresh or made into juice, concentrate, jellies, and sherbets.

Spondias mombin