Pavaratty: Several hanging nests gently sway from the coconut trees by the canal in the Elavally village of Thrissur district. These beautiful nests belong to Baya weaver birds.

Known as Thookanaan kuruvi or Kooriyattta in local parlance, these little birds build their nests on tall coconut trees near the paddy fields.

They have been working tirelessly to build these nests with a cosy central pouch and a long vertical tube.

Male birds make two or three nests. And the female bird lays eggs in the nest of its choice.

The grass strands used to build the nest can wary in length from 20 to 60cm. A male bird has to make up to 50 trips to get all the raw materials to build a single nest. It takes about eight days to complete a nest.

Once the nest is made, it is for the female birds to decorate it. Sometimes, clay is used in the interiors of the nest. This is to prevent the nest from swaying too much in the wind, bird-watchers pointed out.

But farmers are not very pleased to find the little birds. They are notorious of arriving in hordes and destroying the crops.