These days the green canopy near the State Guest House and its environs are abuzz with activity. A swarm of rosy pastors, migratory birds are squeaking and chattering, flying and dipping from one tree onto another.
The rosy pastors have made the city their temporary home and are presently on the lookout for banyan, pithicellobium dulse (seema chinta), berries of peepul (marri), lantana and nectar of Erythrena (badga).
They feed mainly on berries and nectar.
Kommareddy Durga Prasad, a local bird watcher, said: “I have been watching their arrival and departure for the last 20 years.
But, probably, this is first time that rosy pastors have flocked the city in large numbers.”
The rosy pastors are earliest migrants in the region and could be seen every year.
The first bunch starts trickling in by around October/November and by the middle of April, they can bee seen returning to their native places.
They come here from far off places like Eastern Hungary, Central Europe, Middle and Eastern Turkistan. They nest and breed between May and August in those countries.
Later, they migrate to India with new progeny to save them from extreme winter.
These birds could be easily mistaken for common Myna as they resemble the latter in size and shape.
But, little experience would help in differentiating them. Rosy pastors raise their nestlings almost solely on the locusts which form a very nutritious feed to the young birds.
These birds are doing a favour by decimating the locust population, he said.
People could witness their amazing pre-roosting behaviour in the city.
Quivering with excitement, the birds would sing and call, shivering their wings and then suddenly wing off.
The tweeting grows in intensity, and then suddenly for no apparent reason it stops.
