Teetiri protects the grassland - 6 - Teetiri begins to leave the nest

6

Teetiri begins to leave the nest

Teetiri kept crawling, slowly, taking care that her black and white head was not being visible above the greenish brown and brownish green grasses. She reached a pile of stones, some brown, some black, some red, some off-white and some brilliantly white. Here, in this pile of stones, she raised her head and sat among some of the stones for some time. She kept moving her head and raising it up and hiding it again. This sort of moment, she knew, would be immediately noticed by the most alert of crows, mongoose or foxes, if hiding nearby. They would wait till she left the pile of stones and would immediately come around to investigate. Once she had settled down in the pile of stones, she called out to Teetiraa. Softly, only once, in a small gentle manner, "Treeet-Treeeeet".

That small gentle call from Teetiri was a signal to Teetiraa that his partner was now comfortably settled elsewhere. He stopped his dance, and began to walk about aimlessly, in large widening circles, pretending to be searching for insects. At times, he did get the still lazy beetle that had not yet hurried to hide away in the daylight. He knew he would have to remember all these spots where lazy beetles would be found easily. For when the eggs would hatch, he would need to be able to catch these beetles in the early morning and late evening and bring them back to feed the young lapwings at the nest.  He began to widen the circles of his walk towards the now unprotected nest. He had to stay in visible distance, to ensure that there were no predators nearby, who would perhaps stumble upon the nest by accident. 

Once he was able to locate the nest, and could keep it in his view, he replied Teetiri's call, by another contact call, louder than Teetiri, but with the same gentle manner, "Treeet-Treeeeet-Did-you-do-it?"  Teetiri could now understand that Teetiraa was able to see the nest and that he would keep a watch out for predators. She bobbed her head once or twice, while still remaining seated at the pile of stones, and made a short but crudely loud noise, "Piteeeweeet". That sound would now make all predators, seen and unseen, look at the stony pile. They would begin to search for the source of that sound. Once again, Teetiri bobbed her head up and down, and began to crawl away clumsily from the stones. 

Teetiri protects the grassland - 13 - Teetiri goes to hunt for red crabs

13

Teetiri goes to hunt for red crabs

Teetiri returned to the marshy water-patch near the rocks. There would be good food to be eaten here. The small red crabs could be found among these grasses and rocks. These brilliant-red coloured animals kept running sideways when disturbed and would dig themselves into the sand thinking that they could not be spotted. But the wet marshy soil and undisturbed sand surface always betrayed them. The footprints of the small red crabs were left on the wet marshy soil and led the birds directly to the spots where they had dug themselves in. The lapwings and other wading birds followed these tracks as they could thus easily identify the presence of the red crabs and pull them out of their hiding spots and eat them up. The deeper water patches in the marsh allowed some hiding places for Teetiri to hide in if Shaheen or Shikra, came hunting in the grassland.

The marshy water-patch was also a favourite hunting place for other wading birds.  Chimini and her family usually frequented it. Salonki and her large numbers of brothers and sisters as also a number of frogs were to be usually seen there. Teetiri loved the songs of the frogs when the first monsoon came down over the grassland and the river. There would be thousands of red crabs that would be running all over the place without even any space for them to dig down to hide.

Teetiri would be joined by her entire family at that time to feed upon the red crabs. All her relatives, her parents, her brothers and sisters and Teetiraa’s relatives would be there at the marsh. Teetiraa’s cousins from across the river would also join them at that time. All of them knew of the marsh and the best place to visit it. They usually left it for Teetiri and Teetiraa for the rest of the year. There were other spots and other times when Teetiri and Teetiraa joined their cousins from across the river, like when the flying ants came out from the ground, or when the waters at the salt-water creek went down in summer exposing thousands of young fish trapped in the rocks.

There were no birds present at the marsh today. That was strange, thought Teetiri. Usually, there would be many birds at this time of the day. Was there something wrong? There did not seem anything like being totally wrong here. The red crabs were there. They were running around. The waters were very inviting.  The cool waters would be very welcome to rest in after the hot rocks that she had crawled through. The grass was not moving. Was there some predator out there at the marsh? Would she be able to spot the predator in time? Was it Mongoose or Lombdi, the wolf? Was it Naag? Hiding out there in the cool water? Frightened, Teetiri looked around for help. Who could tell her if there was something wrong in the marsh?

One of the red crabs came running towards her unaware of her presence. Instinctively she jabbed down with her beak. picked up the crab and swallowed it. Wow. That felt goooood. She needed to eat another. Already she would soon be due back at the nest to relieve Teetiraa. She walked hesitantly towards the marsh, worried. There! There was another one of the red crabs. She jumped two steps and rushed towards it and grabbed it just as it had begun to dig down. Her sudden movement among the stones had dislodged a dung beetle that had been busy rolling up some mud. She grabbed the dung beetle without thinking. The dung beetle did not taste as good as the red crab but it would have to do. She desperately needed that nutrition. She was going to go back and sit at that nest and she needed all the energy she could get. She could not complain now. Or, be choosy at the marsh when the very next moment a predator could easily jump up at her. 

Teetiri protects the grassland - 15 - Teetiri asks Salonki for help

15

Teetiri asks Salonki to help

She was almost sure that she could not depend on Salonki and her partner. Or, could she? Teetiri asked herself. It may perhaps be easier to ask Salonki to risk taking a chance than any other bird. Salonki would be willing to take risks. For all the singing and gesturing that Dominga, Darzi or Phoolchuki did, they did not have the guts to confront an enemy. She could not risk Kotwal. Teetiri needed Kotwal to warn her at her nest. Salonki would have to do for the moment, Teetiri thought.

After all, no smart predator was waiting out there so patiently to have to eat Salonki. With all the nodding and shaking that they did, the predator would definitely a stomach ache, Teetiri thought and smiled to herself. She called Salonki and informed her that she would need a favour. Salonki was surprised and felt very happy. Teetiri, Teetiri, TEETIRI was asking her, her, HER, Salonki, to do a favour. Teetiri was considered to be much smarter than Salonki and here she was, asking her for a favour. Sure, she said, ask and if she could do it, she would definitely be glad to be of any help.

Go to the jowar and bajra cropfields. Go and tell all your myna cousins and relatives that Teetiri needs their help. Bring them to the marsh. Teetiri told Salonki. Do not ask them to land in the marsh but ask them to perch on the branches of the babool trees. Tell them to just sit there and try to find out what the animal was. Was it a dog from the village? Was it Mongoose or Ghorpad, the monitor lizard, wandering away from his usual walking path? Whoever it was from among all these, they were all equally dangerous for lapwing chicks, Teetiri thought. What if it was not one of these animals? She could always deal with the known ones, and try and force them into moving away. It was the unknown and strange animals, that would be more worrying.

Salonki agreed to bring all her cousins and relatives to the marsh. She flew off with her nodding partner to the cropfields across the river where all her relatives gathered to feed upon the grains. They were also possibly gathering around the place where the farmers were boiling harvested sugarcane to make jaggery. The mynas loved to pick up the fallen jaggery when it was being transported back and forth from the boiling area in the cropfields to the godowns. The farmers usually left the godown doors open. The mynas also raided the godown interiors for there was more food to be found inside.

Salonki flew down upon the roof of the shed and called out to her relatives. All of them gathered together on the roof while Salonki told them about the request for help from Teetiri. They were all excited. They felt that Salonki had done all the mynas proud. Imagine, they spoke agitatedly, imagine, one of the lapwings was actually asking the mynas for help. Wow. That was something, indeeeeeed. They were also excited about this strange animal that Salonki was describing. Large, frightening and dangerous, Salonki had said. And, all Teetiri had asked of was to make sure that all the mynas perched on the babool trees and just stayed there? That was the plan? That was the entire plan? Of course, they could do it.  That was very easy. And for this easy bit of assistance, Teetiri would owe Salonki a favour? Wow. How foolish could the lapwings be? They told each other in pairs, for though they seemed to be in a large flock, the mynas interacted only as pairs.