Kipling in My Life

In Just-So Stories, I first read about bulbuls,  annoying little birds that loved to mind other people's business. Birds are not my favorite thing so I didn't give these much thought, except for their somewhat comic name.

A half-century later, in my Bangkok yard, I became enchanted with a couple of noisy, brazen little birds, who have sharp crested heads and tails like fans and a wide range of chirps and battlecries--especially when cats venture into the yard.

These little dudes have no fear and will divebomb a feline as though they were falcons. I have become quite fond of them, except when they begin their pre-dawn warbling inches away from my bedroom window, and have wondered occasionally what they are called.

Wandering around the internet is a serendiptous pursuit, and when I was looking for online reviews of Tone Deaf, I ran into a familiar face--yes, the birds in my yard are bulbuls and somehow I am not surprised. They are much as I always imagined--only lots smaller. (They are not the same color as the one in the photo, but the shape and size are right.)