NATURE
Birds without fear
KUMARAN SATHASIVAM
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Fortunately for birdwatchers, there are still some places where one can see birds up close.
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Photo: Kumaran Sathasivam
Unruffled: The normally hysterical lapwing.
ONE of the prerequisites for watching birds is a pair of binoculars. This is because birds seem to wish to maintain as great a distance as possible between themselves and humans. Being small creatures in general, it is not convenient to watch them wi
th the unaided eye.
Even if a bird does not actually flee on spotting you, it will promptly dive for cover. Sometimes you will hear a call of horror before it does so. The result is that you cannot have a good long look at it. As if this reaction were not bad enough, they have sentries to warn them.
Alert sentries
One such sentry is the Red Wattled Lapwing. These long-legged birds have excellent eyesight, which they put to good use in spotting you from far away. They are also endowed with loud, unmusical voices, which they annoyingly put to good use.
If there is any indication at all that you are moving in their direction, Red Wattled Lapwings start screaming. This serves to alert every other creature up to a radius of at least half a kilometre to the fact that there is a dangerous prowler in the area — you. To make things worse, the lapwing ensures that everyone is quite aware where exactly the source of danger is by taking to the air and flying above you as it shrieks hysterically.
The net effect is that, as a fledgling birdwatcher, you are frustrated at what a brief close-up look you get. You are left with unanswered questions about the appearance of the bird and its identity. Your lot is even worse if you are a beginner interested in photographing birds. Armed with an impressive camera, you set off into the field, hoping to have a collection of beautiful bird pictures. You’ll get a collection of pictures all right. But when you study them, they appear to be all scenery shots. Others need you to distinguish which of the various little specks is a bird and to point it out to them. And they have to take your word for it.
Getting good photographs of birds may require setting up tent-like hides and sitting uncomfortably waiting for birds to wander by. It also calls for immense patience.
Isolated islands
However, there are places where birds do not flee from well-intentioned humans. Such places are typically found in isolated islands far from the mainland where humans have traditionally not lived or been seen at all.
In fact, these birds do not flee from badly intentioned people either and this has, in many cases, led to their decline. The dodo of Mauritius, which could not recognise the danger posed by humans and their domestic animals, went extinct. Others such as the Seychelles magpie robin have come perilously close to dying out forever.
Fortunately, there are still a number of islands into which humans have not intruded, so that fearless birds may be observed on them. The Galapagos Islands, off the coast of South America, are one group of such islands. Many of the birds on such islands have lost the power of flight, having had no use for this faculty for a very long time. They are also quite indifferent when approached closely by human beings. This attitude could not be more different from that of the birds sharing the mainland with humans. So if you are looking for quick results in bird photography, is travel to remote islands the only resort? Not really. Even on the mainland, there are places where birds trust you and allow you to approach closely.
There are many villages in India that have a tradition of not disturbing nesting birds. In fact, they have protected the birds for so many years so that heronries may be found right in the middle of a group of houses. The nesting birds make confiding subjects for photography. And then there are more extensive places like northwestern India — the birds behave differently there. As they go about their lives, they do not think much of coming close to you if you should happen to be in the vicinity. In fact, they have no objection even to your stopping to watch them. If you pull out a camera and begin taking photographs, they do not mind that either.
In the northwest
Indeed, a sandgrouse hardly bothers to give you a glance as it squats on the ground. A weaverbird rummages around, unbothered by your following it, shooting photographs. A young Painted Stork stands on a wall in a village, quite bored by your gaping at it. Even that paragon of suspiciousness, the Red Wattled Lapwing, is unconcerned here. It may be seen standing by the roadside, watching the traffic go past on the highway. This creature, the god of hysteria elsewhere, displays even less interest in an approaching human being than does a domestic chicken. Its behaviour is starkly in contrast to that of its congeners elsewhere.
They say the birds of northwestern India do not fear humans because of the vegetarian lifestyle they practice — the humans, that is. What really matters is that you have an album of bird photographs to toss casually at your fellow birdwatchers. You note with satisfaction how their eyes goggle as they flip through it. “I wish I had had the time to take some really good pictures”, you say adopting a suitably peevish tone.
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