Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Mint-lounge / Bringing birds to book
BackBack

Bringing birds to book

Bringing birds to book

Birds in Books: Permanent Black, 845 pages, Rs795.Premium

Birds in Books: Permanent Black, 845 pages, Rs795.

What Nandan Nilekani’s Unique Identification Programme aims to do with India’s population, a Hyderabad man has already done with books on Indian birds. He has compiled a centralized database.

Birds in Books: Permanent Black, 845 pages, Rs795.

An avid birdwatcher and student of avian life since 1979, when his father handed him a copy of Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds, Pittie culled information from scores of books and research papers for this massive bibliography, which contains details and synopses of nearly every book on the subject. No wonder then that he is the president of the Birdwatchers Society of Andhra Pradesh (Bsap), associate representative (India) of the International Ornithological Committee, and Indian representative of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society. He has published over 300 notes and papers, and co-authored A Checklist of Birds of Andhra Pradesh. He edits the online journal Indianbirds.in.

Pittie’s interest in birds developed while growing up in the city. “Hyderabad has open scrub as its main habitat, in which birds are more easily visible than, say, in a rain forest in the Western Ghats. This helped in two ways. One, I did not have to really strain myself to see birds. Those that are found in peninsular India were all around and easy enough to spot. Two, there were not so many different species as in the Western Ghats. This made me watch those that were around me, and from watching repeatedly, I began to see them. Familiarity with an area and its birds became an asset in the long run, for I could recognize changes in the environment by the presence or absence of birds."

Bird’s-eye view: Aasheesh Pittie’s book has more than 28,000 references to books, papers and documents. Photo: Bharath Sai/Mint

To compile the book, Pittie scoured the libraries at the Bombay Natural History Society and the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, as well as the Natural History Museum Library in Britain when he went there a few years ago. Ornithologists in India and abroad helped.

Under any entry of an ornithological work in the book, you will find details such as the title, where it was published, which year it came out, what the book contains, what its major arguments are, the number of pages, whether it has plates, sketches and images, in which library (in the case of rare books) it’s available, and the people and journals that reviewed it.

The last comprehensive work of this kind came out in 1994. Ornithology of the Indian Subcontinent 1872-1992: An Annotated Bibliography, edited by three Smithsonian scholars, has 6,000 bibliographical entries. Pittie’s 843-page book has more than 28,000 references to ornithological books, works, papers and documents relating to South Asian birds. The book also has short biographies of the authors of the books mentioned.

Pittie says Hyderabad, like most Indian cities, has taken an ecological hit. “In the last 5–10 years, wilderness areas around the city have taken a tremendous beating from the rampant and unregulated growth of urbanization. Wetlands are misused and drained for construction. Good birding habitats, where larksong was prevalent, are fast disappearing all around the city." His current compendium may just ruffle India’s ornithological feathers. A big bird has come home to roost.

About the Birdwatchers Society of Andhra Pradesh

Bsap was started by entomologists in 1980 and registered as a society in 1983, primarily to encourage birdwatching as a hobby and give people an opportunity to get out into the wilderness. It is a membership-based organization, open to everybody. It has around 260 members. The annual membership fee is Rs400, and a one-time payment of Rs100 is collected as admission fee. Life membership is Rs3,000. Bsap organizes monthly field trips to birding habitats around Hyderabad and holds one indoor meeting a month where a film may be shown or a talk delivered. In these indoor meetings, the subject need not be limited to birds—it could encompass all of nature.

For details, call 040-23556166.

5 places to birdwatch

Icrisat campus

This 3,000-acre campus is one of the richest birding spots around Hyderabad. It contains different types of habitats, such as wetlands, grasslands, urban gardens, farmlands, paddy, forest areas, scrub, etc., which attract a large variety of bird species. The checklist of birds boasts of 257 species up to date. Star attractions during winter include large numbers of harriers. Around 3,000 ducks come there in March on their way back to breeding grounds. A good place to spot Wire-tailed Swallows, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and Yellow-wattled Lapwings, besides the waterbirds, a few raptors and some bush birds.

Narsapur Reserve Forest

Not just deer: Watch waterbirds at the Nehru Zoological Park. PP Yoonus/Wikimedia Commons.

Anantagiri Reserve Forest

It is 70km from the city. There should be a lot of woodland birds around in the morning—certainly a couple of nesting flycatchers, White Throated Ground Thrush, Indian Pitta and, if you are lucky, the lorikeet. Added attractions here are nesting raptors—there are two active Crested Hawk-Eagle nests, one active Crested Serpent-Eagle nest and at least one active Shikra nest. You may also get a sighting of the rather uncommon Common Babbler.

Nehru Zoological Park

When not watching the creatures in the cages, you may discover that the zoo is actually a good place for birdwatching. The lions’ enclosure and the various tanks hold a lot of ground, small birds and a number of waterbirds. stone curlews have been known to breed near the Sambar enclosure. There may be a number of migrants too.

Sanjeevaiah Park

This park in the heart of the city is a good place for birding just before the monsoon. Crows nest in the park, so do drongos and Pied Starlings; occasionally Chloropsis can be seen. There’s a good chance you’ll spot coppersmiths, orioles and plenty of warblers. The lake shore should offer some wading birds such as stilts and moorhens. You might glimpse some gulls and terns as well.

rahul.j@livemint.com

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 19 Mar 2011, 01:06 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App