Silverbill Munia- Tiny Teacher

Silverbill Munia- smaller than your folded palm- teaches us a lesson or two. We have been observing the birds closely in our front yard for nearly a decade now. We have done many stories on the Munias also called the Indian Silverbill. But they continue to teach us a thing or two.

We had posted another picture last week showing a dozen birds together, half of them on the bird feeder and the other half waiting for their turn. Patiently. No squabble, no fight. Every one gets a share in an orderly manner. Although the bird feeder is at a height, but the agile stray cat manages to pounce on a bird on the ground occasionally. Part of food chain I guess. The picture was posted for KBG-58 Captions Contest (KBG stands for Kaun Banega Ghumakkad) and is reproduced below.

Before we share the captions given by the participants, let us see what do these tiny birds teach us? Perhaps many things, some of which are:

• Community Living: So amply demonstrated by the birds which nest in trees nearby, fly together for food, perch together, feed together and fly back together.
• Self-discipline: As you can see in the picture above, the birds await their turn while others are feeding. No fights.
• Patience: Every one gets a share of the feed. From the first perch on the electric wire to the waiting line on water pot to the feeder- all three stages are done patiently.
• Resolve: Whenever the Munias lose a compatriot to a hungry cat, they reassemble on the electric wires above. They become silent for a while. And with resolve, continue feeding.
• Punctuality: The birds synchronise their feeding time with the sunrise and sunset. They fly back to their nests with an hour to go before the sunset.
• Food Intake: The Munias control their food intake, unlike many of us humans. The bird feeder may still have the feed, but they limit their intake in a controlled manner.

The Contest

We received more than two dozen captions for KBG-58 Contest, which are listed below:

Sl.	Name	Caption for KBG-58 Contest
1	GR Sreenivasan	Early birds are enjoying their feast, late comers are waiting their turn patiently 👌
2	Rohini Tiwari	Nature teaches us discipline by example!
3	Pradeep Siwach	Jiyenge saath, marenge saath.
4	KV Ramachandran	Small but large hearted
5	Amandeep Kaur	Azaad parindey 😁
6	Rashmi Bhargava	Become like a bird Expand your wings Learn new things
7	SR Murari	These munias do look so happy, contented and make a beautiful picture
8	Neelima Paroolkar	‘हम पंछी इक डाल के’
9	Ritu Bhargava	Feeding birds is also a form of prayer.
10	Parag Sharma	Its only the fine feathers which make the fine flock !
11	Poonam Bhargava	No Covid for us😉😆
12	Ranajit Sen	Breaking bread together
13	Vinod Dhanuka	Wait for your turn
14	Yogesh Verma	Togetherness
15	Fire Gaming	Do small things with great love.
16	Veeky Baths	Open your wings and fly high!
17	Vicky Bhardwaj	We never break physical distancing protocols in the flock to be Social.
18	Narendra Soni	कितना भी हो दाना, मिल बांट कर खाना
19	Rajendra Singh	Sharing is caring !
20	Manju Khetan	One too many but never fighting for space, moral for human being also live with each other amicably.
21	Shereen Sultana	We are all in this together!
22	Avinash Tiwari	Hum panchi ek daal ke
23	Bharat Ladha	Kab aayegi meri baari
24	Seema jain	Hum saath saath hain!
25	Vaibhav	Together we live,we grow & we survive !!
26	Manik Srivastava	Apna time aayega!
27	Neeta Bhargava	Patience pays.

The Winners

Our Jury has selected the following as winners of KBG-58. Congratulations to all the winners.

Ranajit Sen an alumnus of BITS Pilani is an accomplished veteran of Indian pharmaceutical industry. As an advisor on various Govt forums on Bio-technology and Healthcare, he encourages young entrepreneurs. Ranajit has won several KBG Contests earlier. His simple caption had instantaneous appeal to the Jury.

Narendra Soni studied at Birla School Pilani and specialised in life sciences thereafter. He has won the KBG Contests on several occasions. His caption in Hindi is simple and catchy.

Poonam Bhargava is an alumnus of Lady Irwin College, Delhi. Full of compassion, she loves Nature. Her caption related the Munias with the Covid pandemic in a humorous way!

Bharat Ladha lives in Vidisha, MP and enjoys farming and Nature. An alumnus of BITS Pilani, Bharat cares for the environment. His caption highlighted the disciplined  feeding by the Munias.

Once again we congratulate all the winners and thank both the Jury members namely Manik Srivastava and Neeta Bhargava. The captions given by Jury members were excluded from the Contest.

Why the Name

Why is the bird called Silverbill Munia? Because its beak shines like silver! See the picture below.

Munias- More Picture Stories

You may like to browse our earlier stories on Silver Munias listed below. These stories also include short video clips. For those who haven't yet seen the Silverbills from close quarters, enjoy the pictures as well as the video footage.

Feeding the Silver Bills - We installed the first bird feeder gifted by our grandson. But no bird came for the next three months! Then what happened? Read on.

Friendly Munias - includes video clips on how munias feel safe with the neighbour's dog. How we had to shift the bird feeder to the roof? However, the cat continued stalking the birds. Could we save them? Read on.

What is Munia's Feed? Munias feed on Foxtail Millet. They split open each seed and discard the shell. Read more details about the seed, its names in many languages and see the pictures of the seed and its outer shell in the story.

Here is another picture of a pair of Munias. Guess what are they conversing?

We hope we have lessened your anxiety due to the second wave of the pandemic. It is definitely on the decline. However, all of us need to maintain the self-discipline of wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance and washing hands frequently. We thank the Munias for providing us a pleasant diversion from Covid.

Stay connected, stay safe.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 19th June 2021

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