They need the showers, but in moderation 

The Indian silverbill has adapted to urban environments, and in Chennai, the odds of seeing a nesting pair close to one’s hearth are high now

The breeding season of the white-throated munia (Lonchura malabarica) reads like a college time-table. Here is how Handbook Of The Birds of India and Pakistan by Salim Ali and S Dillon Ripley chirps on it.

“Season, chiefly July to December in Punjab, January to March in central India, September to November about Hyderabad, December to May in Kerala.”

The provocation for raking up the white-throated munia’s love life is the sighting of a pair at Karapakkam on the morning of September 30 this year, a dateline meshing with Salim Ali’s observation pertaining to places “about Hyerabad”. The famed ornithologist was obviosuly taking in a massive, multi-framed macro picture, out of which one should gently slide out the hyperlocal frames pertaining to Chennai.

Now, almost as a rule, the breeding season of the Indian silverbill — another name for whitethroated munia, one with better air play — is sharply divided between north and south India, generally believed to play out in summer and winter respectively. However, going by Salim Ali’s field notes, it is cut more finely and allows for regional variations, with minimal overlaps — something one would expect of a neatly marked time-table. That gives a sense of a hoary-feathered, death-defying Chieftian Indian silverbill assigning conjugal rights to the various populations of the species at different times of the year.

The pattern, as reported by Salim Ali, should continue to provide a reliable framework for understanding the Indian silverbill’s breeding timelines, but allowances have to be made for some variations brought on by various factors, not the least of which being climate change.

Viewed in the light of the Indian silverbill’s behaviours, this pattern yields close-to-certain, if not absolutely sure-footed, conclusions.

Ornithologist V Shantaram remarks that the regional breeding seasons are coinciding with the availability of food. These birds need grass seeds which are found in generous measures when the scent of rain pierces the air. While the showers need to be significant enough to grow the grasses that yield seeds, they should not be intense to the extent of proving damaging to their nests, Shantaram explains.