Birds in Kathmandu as neighbours: Let’s listen to chirps from Chhimeki Chara photo exhibition

After the cold and harsh shishir (winter) season of the year is over, a barn swallow comes to chirp and build a nest in my house–to announce the arrival of spring. Sometimes more than one arrives. The birds come every spring on Basanta Panchami , a festival that marks the start of spring.

My mother told me this story when I was a kid about a chirping bird that appeared on her window right on the day that welcomes the start of spring. Of course, it could not have been the same barn swallow year after year. But a bird came every start of spring and she made a note of it for many years, she told me.