The Rain Dance of the Warbler

The grey-hooded warbler (Phylloscopus xanthoschistos) gets its name from the way it warbles which goes something like ‘tchi-tchi-cheeseewee-cheeseewee in a high pitched sort of way. The sound is commensurate with the bird’s delicate and small size, and the calls amidst the foliage alerts one to its presence. It rarely, if ever, seems to sit still and though it’s always somewhere in the vicinity at Windsong, it’s hard to pin it down.

Since I have a flight to catch out of Bhuntar tomorrow, I was keeping a wary eye on the sky. Late in the afternoon, the sun disappeared and rolling thunder rumbled across the valley. The cats, all six of them, had to be put indoors and then it rained… amazingly, despite the build-up, the shower was over before it had begun. I had my feet up in the gazebo when I heard the warble, which was coming from the apple tree next to me. 

Our little friend had such a soaked bedraggled look, I found myself laughing. My 500 mm lens, in the manual mode, is tough to focus, and for a few seconds I wasn’t sure if the bird would stay long enough to capture. The white apple blossoms were blurred out, and the warbler after grooming itself for just those few extra seconds, then flitted away. It sure as hell made my day!!

A haiku by the Japanese poet, Matsumoto Basho, captures the essence of life all around us…

‘the warbler sings
among new shoots of bamboo
of coming old age’

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