Come summer and evidently the weather gets warmer by the day as solar energy penetrates our blue planet. This is the time when birds of feather flock together as they come into heat for the mating season. It's also the time when the trees turn on their lust and are brimming with vitality. Unfortunately trees are firmly rooted to the ground, so what do they do to find a feasible femme fatale? Let's check out a few charming ways adopted by trees, particularly the ones with blood red flowers.
The tall and handsome Silk-Cottontree, the glorious Gulmohar, the compact Indian Coral tree, the lush Scarlet fountain tree and the slapdash Palash or Flame-of-the-forest look amazingly amorous in the season. The one common entity of all these trees is the red and rowdy petals that festoon their branches. While the Silk-cotton flowers have fleshy petals, sepals and look plump, the Gulmohar flowers are wafer thin and open completely for the world to see. The coral tree has spiky upward flowers whereas the fountain tree has wrinkled petals emerging from watery buds. Finally Palash has petals that are curved and beak-shaped therefore named Parrot Tree.
All the “bloody blossoms” come into their element only when the cool months turn warmer. The season of love, however, vastly differs from terrain to territory in putting forth their blooms. The lovelorn trees start bud-bearing in February, peaking in April and tamely ending in June.
Known as Bombax, the Silk Cotton is also called Simal. It is indeed beautiful with large red flowers. It is cultivated in some countries for its silk-like cotton that is featherweight. Birds that visit the silk cotton flowers to feed on the abundant nectar include the barbets, bulbuls, orioles, parakeets, pigeons and woodpeckers.
Dr Surya Prakash who specialises in zoology at the School of Life Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi wields his camera with dexterity capturing birds. Engrossed studying the relationships between the red blossoms and birds says, “They contain so much nectar is evidenced by the frequent visits of many species of birds -- babblers, drongos, mynahs, prinias, sunbirds, tailor birds, tree-pies are usually to be seen scurrying from flower to flower”.
Have you ever wondered why the lovelorn trees dress down their leaves and bear bright flowers? It is one of the many tricks to lure birds and bees. All shades of scarlet, orange, maroon, and crimson are obviously inviting -- like magnets to birds and bees beckoning them to their parlour. Once the birds alight on the flowers, the next step is to offer them sweet nectar that is simply irresistible. Once the trees use the bright red flowers as honey traps, birds regularly visit flowers for drops of liquid energy. In the process birds unknowingly help in pollination. The power packed pollen grains (male) on one flower stick on to the bird's beak and facial feathers and naively deposited on the ovary of another flower (female) thereby aiding in fertilization. Once fertilisation is over, the job of petals is complete and they fall off the tree, decorating the ground with hundreds of scattered flowers.
Delhi-based birdwatcher, Ashok Kumar Malik, makes an interesting observation, “We widely read about the five big trees bursting with blossoms of red but the qualitative and quantitative aspect of all the five species vary. From Alleppey to Amalapuram, from Ahmedabad, Aurangabad to Allahabad and on to Aizwal in the northeast blood red flowers blooms in accordance to their intuitions”. He goes on to explain how the birds will wait for days in anticipation of Bombax buds peeling into large flowers.
We might not have the acquired knowledge but the birds and trees have a symbiotic relationship that is indeed complimentary. Bonding of birds and flowers vastly varies from region to region in budding, blooming and beckoning. So lookout, he says, the tree in your neighbourhood may suddenly become naked and then burst forth with fresh ruby red flowers, amazing birds and humans alike.
Photos: N.Shiva Kumar, D.S.Pandit and Surya Prakash
