Elusive fantails find refuge in Tangra sundari tree

Kolkata: In a quiet corner of Tangra, three sundari trees — icons of the Sundarbans’ muddy mangrove world — are rewriting their story far from home, along the edge of a pond inside a Tangra complex. “They were planted by the architect/builder of Flora Fountain along the edge of the pond inside the complex,” said birder and resident Batul Pipewala, who has watched them settle into Kolkata’s landscape since she moved in.

The trees have now drawn an unexpected tenant — a white-throated fantail pair, a resident bird that is “elusive to spot” in the city and “easier to find in wooded and quieter places on the outskirts of Kolkata”. Pipewala had seen them in familiar birding pockets — Narendrapur’s Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary. But in Tangra, according to her, she didn’t find any record.

“On May 10, I heard the fantails sing near the pond on the sundari trees,” said Pipewala, also a member of city-based Birdwatchers’ Society. “I wondered what brought the pair to Tangra.” When she looked up their nesting habits, she found a clue that turned curiosity into a daily vigil: “A quick research told me that they nest on sundari trees and this began my quest for this exciting journey.”

“On May 21, by chance while observing the fantails, I noticed the nest nestled amongst the sundari leaves, about 3ft from the ground,” she said. “And then I saw the adult birds sitting on the nest. That means eggs had been laid.” From then on, she watched the parents trade shifts carefully. “It became my routine to observe from a distance the two who tended alternately to the eggs,” she said, adding: “They could see me if I were close to the tree and would not go to nest until I had moved away.” Even their flight path seemed deliberate: “While going to their nest they would always approach it suddenly from the branch below the nest not from above.”

The risks around the pond were constant. “There were keelback snakes in the pond. Domestic cats were roaming too close as well,” Pipewala said. One encounter stayed with her. “What a valiant fight the two put up when a cat went too close,” she recalled.

On June 2, the wait ended. “I first saw a tiny colourful open beak in the nest. The eggs had hatched,” she said. “There are two young ones in the nest. One more significant thing I noticed that while nesting they stopped singing as if to avoid being found,” she added.

Around the sundari, other greenery frames the pond. “Along the pond is fan palm which has spines along leaves.” But Pipewala says the habitat needs strengthening.