Birds and birdies...

Golfers dream ... birdies, eagles and albatrosses..

Birds and birdie-seeking golfers fill the golf courses with their colourful feather and costumes as well as songs of joy and cries of pain..

DLF Golf Club has published and gifted to us (members)copy of a Coffee Table book " The birds of DLF5 Golf Links. There are 101 species of birds such as pochards, koels, pigeons, herons, cuckoos, swallows, coots, hornbills, kingfishers, parakeets, warblers, bulbuls, mynas and cormorants sharing the golf course with the players.

Some birds are water-based, some reside on the trees, some in the bushes and some migratory visits from other places. The book gives details of the birds as well as the places in the course where they can be spotted and at what times.

The 200 acre-course of 27 holes, with large and deep lakes, water falls, running streams, thousands of trees and shrubs, provide ample space for the birds to find food, drink honey from the flowers, lay eggs, bring up chicks and regenerate their species. The birds fill the course with their melodious mating calls, chirps, whistles and songs. During the rainy season, the peacocks dance around to attract the males. In summer they jump into the water to cool themselves and in winter take sun bath in the fairways. There are a few instances when the birds mistake the ball for egg and take them away..

The course is surrounded by a thousand acre Aravalli hills which provide extra space for the birds to fly out and in. The golf course with its green grass, colourful flowers and blue water bodies stands out like an oasis amidst the arid Aravalli forest of thorny bushes and stone-filled reddish soil.

The photographer Andre Jeanpierre Fanthome has made the birds come alive with his powerful lense.

The birds, players and balls have some things in common. The birds have colourful feathers while the players wear colorful costumes. The birds sing in joy and cry in pain and the players do the same depending upon the outcome of their shots. The birds lay their eggs under the bushes while the balls tend to go and hide in the bushes. The birds are attracted to the lakes for fish while the balls have an irresistible pull from the water.

While some birds fly, others run on the surface or swim in the water. Some golfers fly the balls high, others cannot get them up while a few let the balls swim and sink..

When the players are lost in the bushes searching for their balls the crows find their sandwiches in the golf carts.

Players imitate the peacocks after making birdies while those who made double bogies try to hide like ostrich.

Golfers like the fairways, greens and holes. But the balls and birds like the bushes, trees and water..

The scenery of lake and the music of waterfalls and streams look so pleasing and soothing to the eyes ..which get wet when the ball falls into the water. The only consolation after losing the ball in water is when the opponents also do the same.

They say that the level of water in the lakes keeps rising ..with the tears of players who lose balls....and the thousands of balls which keep filling up the bottom of the lakes..