----------------------------------------------------------
Archives:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goa-net/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Goanet2003/
----------------------------------------------------------
Fred Noronha's wonderful interview with the birdwatching duo, Harvey D'Souza and
Neil Alvares reminded me of the great pleasure I took, as a child and later as a
teenager, and most recently as a 75-year-old, in visiting that peaceful and enchanting
spot. My brother and I and our friends swung from the banyan tree that still stands
there---I'm recalling the early 1930s---but the yawning chasm that then seemed to lie
below seems much less dangerous now!
In those days we lived first in the Vagmaro house and then in Guirguiro's house,
both on what was then the main road of the village. The spring itself is featured in
a chapter in my novel, Tivolem, and so is a bird identified as a kuturr and other
named as a plain old kite (after reading Fred's interview, I realize I could have made
it the Crested Serpent Eagle---that's a fantastic name; the Oriental Honey Buzzard,
which apparently also frequents the spring, sounds much too sweet a bird to be
classified as a raptor.)
The kite in Tivolem settles heavily in the upper branches of a large tree. I
could identify it, then or now, but thanks to the Fred/Harvey/Neil trio I now suppose
it belongs to the moist-deciduous variety!
More power to you, Harvey and Neil, and when next you go birdwatching, give me a
call.
Victor Rangel-Ribeiro
