For Ekta Nahar, a Noida-based artist, mornings do not begin with bright sunshine or an alarm clock, but with over 200 feathered visitors. Some perched on railings, some hopping between her 300 planters, somepecking gently at grains, and a few flying close enough to feed from her hands. The birds that visit her every morning include sparrows, hummingbirds, silverbills, koel, parrots and laughing doves. (Image: Instagram/@kindnestbyekta)
A report from The Better India stated that her high-rise apartment balcony is now a thriving living ecosystem, visited by nearly 200 birds every day. Animals were always part of Ekta’s world, but birds were not. This changed during a 2022 family trip to Mussorie, Uttarakhand, when birdsong filled the place where they were staying. She said, “We stayed at a place where we could hear birds all day.” (Image: Instagram/@kindnestbyekta)
When she returned to Noida, the absence of birds felt sharp and she could not stop thinking about it. Eventually, she began noticing what had been missing around her for years – “There was so much concrete everywhere, and hardly any space for birds.” In 2023, she decided to take small steps. She added plants, kept bowls of water, and placed different kinds of grains and then she waited. (Image: Instagram/@kindnestbyekta)
For nearly three and a half months, no birds came. Later, one morning, she heard a sound she had been waiting for. It was a sparrow. It had been over a decade since she had seen one in her neighbourhood. After, three and a half years, her balcony welcomes nearly 200 birds every day. Watching this every morning, the artist realised that the birds were not coming only for food, but because of the space that made them feel safe. (Representative Image: Pexels)
Over the years, Ekta began to understand urban birds differently and her balcony transformed into a carefully observed, bird-friendly habitat rather than a decorative garden. She made birdhouses from cardboard and leftover wood powder, painted planters by hand, and turned recycled materials into feeders and perches. (Representative Image: Pexels)
Today, her balcony has over than 50 varieties of plants, layered to give birds shelter and enough space to move. What started as an experiment has now become a daily ritual. (Representative Image: Pexels)
