NATURE
A bird's-eye view
RANJIT LAL
|
A sensible wide-angle look at India's bewildering bird life.
|
India Through Its Birds; Edited by Zafar Futehally, Dronequill Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Rs. 395.
ORNITHOLOGY and birding have gained hugely in popularity in recent years, and there's been an influx of birding guides to help (and sometimes confuse) the newcomer along. What was missing, however was a sort of bird's eye view of Indian avifauna, and this compendium of 19 essays fills this gap beautifully. Nearly every region is covered, the Western Ghats, the Deccan, the coastlines, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas the arid regions of Rajasthan and the secretive corners of the North-East. Nor are cities, many with surprisingly rich bird life, left out, with Mumbai, Delhi, Madras (Chennai), Pune, Guwahati, Jamnagar and others getting a look in.
What's more, is that the essays explain why particular species or families are to be found in their particular regions, what brought them there, and what their future is likely to be. The birds are put in their context as it were, with a holistic picture emerging. Once you know why, for instance you can see the crested serpent eagle sharing the same sky as a golden eagle everything suddenly makes more sense, your knowledge is more complete.
Significant essays
Zafar Futehally, who really needs no introduction himself and who edited the Newsletter for Birdwatchers from its inception in 1959 to 2004, has done well with his choice of contributors, as he has with editing the manuscripts. The contributors are well known in their fields, and the writing for the most easily digestible. There is a clutch of tangential essays too, which fit in with the theme of the book because of their significance.
Thus, Rishad Naoroji writes on raptors, Peter Jackson on a day's `ticking' in Delhi, Zafar Futehally on garden birds, Asad R. Rahmani on the endangered birds of India and George B. Schaller on the behaviour of peafowl. As far as the region-based essays are concerned, the contributors include Prakash Gole (on birds of Pune and other cities), Abdul Jamil Urfi (on the wetlands of the Indo Gangetic Plain), Lavkumar Khacher (on the Himalayas and Himalayan Birds), Hashim Tyabji (on the birds of Madhya Pradesh) and Aasheesh Pittie (on the birds of Andhra Pradesh).
Among the essays I enjoyed the most were Lavkumar Khacher's on the Himalaya and Himalayan Birds, Hashim Tyabji's on the birds of Madhya Pradesh and Zafar Futehally's piece on garden birds. What endears the book all the more to one is when you come across viewpoints and observations that mirror your own; like for instance, that not nearly enough research has been done on bird behaviour in India, that "birds may not provide millions of tourist dollars, but they provide much more pleasure", and that Indian Robin gentlemen defend their turf by "strutting opposite each other with chests expanded to their maximum, lunging forward from time to time to capture more ground", exactly as I had seen two of them do on the Ridge just last week!
Proper context
While you can deduce the timeline for most of the pieces (some mention the period being referred to clearly), in a few this becomes difficult and bit of a deduction game.
But for anyone wanting to take a peek at India's bewildering bird life (around 1,300 species) and being just a little intimidated by the task on hand, this book provides a sensible wide-angle view, with which you can get things into perspective and proper context, before you pick up your binoculars and zoom in. As it does for those `established' twitchers, busy racing around and compiling lists and, who so often can't see the wood for the trees.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Literary Review
