Saturday, May 14, 2011

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

Finding a Partner for a Lonely (Common) Cuckoo

Not only I observe bizarre flowering pattern of some plants including onions I beginning to wonder whether the unusually warm and bizarre temperature pattern is affecting the birds.

April is the time of the year when common cuckoo sounds the arrival of new year.
One hears them singing in the early hours and late in the evening for the pairs to meet and retire to their resting places.

These birds are very secretive and even though one hears them it is very difficult to spot them.
They are either in tall tree or hidden behind the leaves.
Their singing is characteristic and musical and a treat to hear in the morning instead of Radio Ceylon's opening music.
Every knows about the Koha (common cuckoo) and why one should worry about.

1. Bird population has drastically dropped and dropping rapidly including common village crows and cuckoos.
2. I can recognize a young one's song from old one by their tone.
3. The are rared by crows and once chased out of the brood they have a characteristic nervy cry of a loner for few days.
4. Then they come to term with it and start a new life.
5. This new life is basically of finding a partner.
6. By May they are paired and the cry is more musical and vibrant.

7. Present context
I heard the nervy cry at 3 in the morning.
Luckily I spotted the girly (not a guy-guy has feathers similar to sparrow hawk and is extremely secretive) feeding briefly on the mulberry tree grown to encourage butterflies. They love the caterpillars more than the berries.
Keep on crying for hours on end for the past few days.

8. Conclusion
She has not found partner and very unlikely till the next year.
This one is odd one out and would continue this lonely cry for another year.

I wish with the 2600 year celebrations of Buddhists and Pinkamas there would be one extra guy born (cuckoo) for this lonely cuckoo.

On reflection Buddha was a born environmentalist.
Unlike present day Buddhist monks who build big and palatial residences Buddha left the palace and retired to the jungle except during Wassana (rainy monsoon season).
He was born under a tree.
He attained enlightenment under a pipal tree.
He spent one week gazing at the Bodhi tree (as a gesture of gratitude).
When rain came down and struggling to realize the four Nobel Truths a giant cobra gave shelter to Buddha (this is something who kill snakes should note).
Flowers, birds and monkeys were his constant companion when meditating and concentrating to realize final goal.

In this Kandy City somebody put poison to kill monkeys.
Municipality is constantly uprooting the trees in the name of road clearance and development.
There aren't many pipal trees left in the city.
There aren't many tortoises (two in number) in the lake and the fish are sick and the monitors are devouring the dead.
There aren't any sparrows or pigeons resting in the big upright buildings.
No bees or wasp that used to build their combs in tall buildings.
There are no flower bed that used to be in the center of the city.
Dogs are chased away in the name of rabies.

I am pretty sure the next Buddha to be who is Maithree (kindness probably to animals), assuming Gautama was kind to the mother nature by example and precept, would not choose this city of Kandy for his attainment of Nibbana.
Unless of course we protect our mother nature and trees for resting and nesting for lonely birds and monkeys.

There were more monkeys in this city than humans a century ago when Britishers were reigning and none of them were Buddhists.
My question is how can one attain Nibbana by visiting this sacred city?
In any case Gautama Buddha preferred not to.
Why?
That is also a question that come to my mind constantly.

Note sent to a newbie in Linux

Down below is a note I sent to a Young newbie.

2 GiB is enough (not for graphic intensive windows games) for Linux except for games.
I have only one (1) GiB (4 GIB in my laptop which I use only for testing occasionally).

It is a waste of money going for more RAM with very slow internet in Sri-Lanka.

I only use K-Torrents now and it is currently downloading at less than 5 KB/sec .

Solution is for having at least two computers.
1. For games and videos
2. Simple secondhand computer with Linux for internet (can share with your sister or brother and family members).
3. Netbook with Android when you enter University (not now).

Except my laptop and my daughters netbook all the computers at home are very good secondhand IBM computers (cost less than 20,000 with few updates with RAM but not graphic cards).

Secondhand desktops are good buys if you understand the hardware and look at inside before buying.

I test them with my Linux CD/DVDs before buying and there are lot of Linux utilities to test and Linux will work day and night for 10 years.

None of my computers broke down after I started using Linux (before that 3 new ones on Windows) except few graphic cards and RAM in the learning stage.

They work 24/7 schedule and the UPS battery is very important.

This is one reason I promote Linux and I do not fear viruses now.

Only down side is Games with Linux which I will probably concentrate when I retire and nothing else to do.

I have two game DVDs but I will not give it to anybody since Linux is for real and serious computing and not for games and leisure!

Never buy a secondhand laptop or netbook (I have written about secondhand laptops in my blog site).

Wait till new models come and with long battery life and you need it in the university and the government is unable to pay dons and do not expect them to help you with computers (not in Singapore though) when you eventually enter University.