ICON 2 -- BIRDS AS ICON OF THE NIGLRIS

ICON - 2 : 

BIRDS AS ICON OF THE NIGLRIS

BY P S SUNDAR

Something unique happened in the Nilgiris on Sunday, Feb 16, 2014.  For the first time since Delhi Bird Club started the 'Big Bird Day'  (BBD) in 2004, yes, a decade ago, ornithology enthusiasts got the Nilgiris included in the Agenda for this year's event scheduled on Feb 16.  This was brought to my notice a week before by Vikram, son of my highly respected long-time friend Dr Harshavardhan, now living in Hyderabad, through an e-mail which opened, "Regards from Vikram, son of Dr Harshavardhan. Please have a look at the event below that a group of us is organising in The Nilgiris. If it is possible it would be very helpful if you would do a write up about it for newspaper..."  

With great pleasure, I wrote an article which appeared in The New Indian Express on Feb 13, 2014 as under:

I had asked Vikram to keep me posted of the happenings on Feb 16 along with possible photos for further highlight in my columns.  That was when he disclosed his inability to be present for the event but he had arranged for information to be passed on to me.   Meanwhile, I had contacted team leaders G B Henriksen and N Dharuman, for whom I had written articles on different occasions, to share with me their findings and photos. 

And, after the event, organiser Jamuna Raju sent me mail. Henriksen phoned me, sent me details and shared some excellent photos of birds he had snapped during the survey.   My article on this appeared in The New Indian Express on Feb 18, 2014 as under:

 These are the superb photos Henriksen has sent me appearing in this alphabetical order below:

Barn Swallow, Brown Fish Owl, Chestnut-headed Bee Eater, Emerald Dove, Great Tit, Greater Coucal, Grey Jungle Fowl, Grey Wagtail, Nilgiri Flycatcher, Oriental White Eye, Pied Buschat, Scaly-breasted Munia and Tickell's Blue Flycatcher 

 Both Henriksen and Jamuna Raju had sent me detailed tabulation of the birds identified by the different groups during their survey.   Based on this, my third article on Big Bird Day 2014 in the Nilgiris appeared in The New Indian Express on Feb 19, 2014, as under:

As all the essential information have already been mentioned by me in the three articles above, I am not repeating them separately here.   

Nevertheless, I wish to record the fact that ornithology enthusiasts (Three Musketeers!) Jamuna Raju, SRK Ramasamy and G A Vikram created avian history in the Nilgiris on Feb 16, 2014, by opening the first chapter of Big Bird Day in the mountainous district where birds love to live and people love to watch the birds.  

I call this the first chapter because I have been repeatedly assured that this will be an annual event hereafter in a much improved way to cover the entire district avidly and authentically.  

In the past, after accompanying on bird watching, I had written (with photos) in my columns on the efforts of N Dharuman of Mullur and M Sivalingam of Aravenu besides M Lakshman at Palaniappa and Sultnana Estates in Colacamby.  These had motivated my asking for a scientific study by bird identifying experts on 3 Es -- endemic, endangered and exotic species -- separately in six agro climatic zones -- Coonoor, Udhagamandalam, Kotagiri, Kundah, Colacamby and Gudalur.  Of course, the bird-spread should be tracked to sholas/forests and water-bodies in all the zones.  This study will help decision makers devise strategy for the co-existence of human with their avian friends, including the migrants, despite global warming and concomitant changes in weather behaviour in the different agro-climatic zones.  This was more so after my studies at Vedanthangal and Rangathittu bird sanctuaries as also in Dubai, Singapore and New South Wales of Australia.  Now,   I get the feeling that this task will be addressed by the Three Musketeers  who organised the BBD in the Nilgiris, nine who led the teams in the five zones and all 150 bird lovers who monitored the bird population and flight. 

It is impossible to visualise existence of human who do not enjoy bird-life but, as I mentioned in my key-note address at Rotary Conference in Mangalore the other day, "Everyone likes birds but the threat is that some like them because they find the birds tasty!"