Spring: Nature’s time to party
We’re at the fag end of the most fleeting of Mumbai’s seasons – Spring. If you look closely now, you will see the minutiae of changing climates; of new sprouts; of budding vs flowering, of dreary callnotes vs melodic song.
Yes, spring is short-lived. But in these few weeks, several trees had displayed a surprising change of character, burst into flower and foliage of such a neon green that even in our urban jungle we are forced to take notice, stop and smile.
It often feels like no sooner has Spring appeared than it has already catapulted into summer, to be followed by the rains that drown out all else.
Like those before-and-after photos that tell you just how much the city has changed, you could take a snapshot of today’s vivid shades and another in peak and then again just after the monsoon, and notice how another circle draws to a close.
Before you know it, it will be winter again – or what passes for winter in our sunny, tropical island city. And if you don’t look closely you won’t have felt the seasons change more than once, such is the design of nature, her peerless planning that I, as a naturalist, love. Indeed, that’s the reason the Mumbai region so abounds with diversity of life.
“Spring,” as the late comedian Robin Williams put it, “is nature’s way of saying ‘Let’s party has already begun.
It’s certainly the beginning of party time for birds who rediscover their hidden colours and cadences, chirping higher and louder as they strut and get ready to breed. Already beginning to serenade are the cocky magpie-robin and the flashy white-throated kingfisher. The less-melodic but equally vocal woodpeckers are at their domestic chores.
‘Spring is sooner recognised by plants than by men,’ goes a Chinese proverb.
It was most animated and visiflush of the Kusum or Ceylon Oak tree. The shades of foliage of this splendid tree, in a few short weeks, are enough to make an artist delirious, as it transforms from rose-pink to vivid scarlet to a range of different greens.
Many a Ficus tree too has just acquired a glitzy new dressing; meanwhile, Flame-of-the-forest or Palash as well as Bonfire trees illuminate the flatness of the brown woods with their scarlet and orange blossoms that will last just a few weeks.
This is when herbs and shrubs lure featherfolk. One such plant is the Toothbrush plant (Salvatora), a dense-growing shrub that is widespread along the margins of our mangrove creeks. Around this time, this shrub sprouts bright red berries that are like a magnet for birds, including great numbers of the visiting rosy starlings that will feast for a few days before the long flight back to Central Asia.
Summer will bring with it a different struggle for survival, in this region that is sadly bursting at the seams.