A nesting episode featuring the tricoloured munia

Breeding time brings the tricoloured munia and the streaked weaver together

A field study seldom plays out with the linearity of a shot arrow. It usually resembles a meandering novel replete with digressions and back stories. A seeming departure from the main plot may actually build it. Translating that into plain and practical avian terms, knowing a species more meaningfully may mean knowing another, at least superficially. A few days ago, at the Karapakkam patch, a tricoloured munia (Lonchura malacca) would not abandon a self-imposed task despite approaching footsteps. Its peripheral vision trained on the human presence, the bird was sussing out thin twigs with an evident sense of urgency. It finally had a long twig torn from a slender plant and flapped away to attend to its joint building project with its lady love. Of course, one assumes this was a male tricoloured munia — probably served an ultimatum — as males of the species are believed to be merchandisers of nest-building material.