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Kerala
On the trail of the winged visitors
RARE species: A bird that was spotted during the bird race on Sunday.
You need to have an alert mind and focused sight for this race, undoubtedly of a different kind. Here, each participant gets a chance to learn and apply some of the finer points about the takes. Later in the evening, they meet at a venue over dinner and have a tête-À-tête, sharing their experiences during the course, something that the professional racers often miss.
This is a race in bird watching, a hobby fast catching up among the youth. The teams of bird watchers spend an entire day recording as many species of birds as possible covering a particular area. And for a bird lover, what is more delightful than watching birds at close quarter during the whole day?
The event is organised by Kerala Birder, an internet discussion forum for bird aficionados in association with HSBC Bank and Yuhina Eco Media, a Mumbai-based N.G.O. Around 100 people divided into 22 teams participated in the HSBC India Bird Race held in Ernakulam on Sunday. The race was also conducted in Kozhikode, Thrissur and Thiruvanandapuram on the same day.
In the Eranakulam zone alone, 300 species of birds were spotted by the teams, said the organisers. The teams covered a stretch ranging from Pandi, an island near Payippad, Alappuzha, to the kole fields in Thrissur. However, as one could have expected, the highest number of bird species – 144 - was spotted in and around the Thattekkad bird sanctuary, one of the bird watching hotspots in the State. This was around 140 and 102 in Kozhikode and Thrissur respectively.
The most interesting finding of the race in the Ernakulam zone was the spotting of black-tailed god wits in Pandy Island. “One of our teams could spot around 5,000 birds of that category out there in Pandy. These are those birds included in the near-threatened category of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and it was really interesting to find such a huge population of these birds” says J. Praveen, the moderator of ‘Kerala Birder’. This species was befittingly selected as the bird of the day while the common myna was picked as the dip of the day, the least spotted species during the race.
The event, being held as part of commemorating the birth anniversary of Dr. Salim Ali on November 12, helps to create awareness among the public on the conservation of ecologically sensitive areas as the biggest habitat of the avian population, say its organisers.
Sunjoy Monga, an environmentalist as well as a writer, is the chief architect of the day-long event, conducted all over the country and for the second straight year in the State.
“Though this is called a race, the importance attributed to that particular element is apparently nil as we care more for birds during this course”, say the organisers.
Hiran U.
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