So tell it to the city birds

So tell it to the city birds

January 5 is National Bird Day in the U.S. to celebrate native species. ANAND SANKAR speaks to birdwatchers to chronicle the histories of our city's feathered denizens

The Hindu

WHERE ARE THE SPARROWS? A sad reflection of rapid, unplanned urbanisation is that our feathered friends have no safe place to roost in Silicon City though some have managed to adapt.

It was a normal lazy morning, a long time ago. I was woken up by a commotion in the kitchen. Bleary-eyed, I saw that a sparrow chick had fallen from its nest in the loft. We gently placed the chick back where it rightfully belonged. That was probably the last generation of sparrows to nest in Silicon City.

January 5 is celebrated as National Bird Day in the U.S. to celebrate native species but in Bangalore, the sparrow is the most prominent native missing from its home. One has to just spend a few hours with birdwatchers here to truly appreciate the diversity of avian life that was once the city's feature. Rapid unplanned urbanisation has really done it for our feathered denizens and I felt miserable when someone pointed out that the place where my apartment is today was once a guava orchard with flocks of parakeets.

More than just nostalgia

Speaking to some of the city's veteran birdwatchers, one can detect more than nostalgia when they roll back the years. S. Subramanya, known in the community as Subbu, reflects on the time when he lived on West of Chord Road and commute daily to Bangalore University. He says he used to "know the addresses of the birds that lived in the city."

"There used to be at least four to five pairs of the red-necked falcon. They require a large area and used to be found at Rajajinagar Ist Block, and Yelahanka, Hebbal and Puttenahalli tanks."

Depressingly, much the conversation with birdwatchers tends to drift to the past tense. Dr. Subramanya cites the case of the white-cheeked barbet "which could be heard always but not anymore."

Nonagenarian Zafar Futehally, whose name is synonymous with birdwatching throughout the country and founding editor of the Newsletter for Birdwatchers, also chooses the barbet to best illustrate disappearing bird species. "In November 1973 we moved into R.M.V. Extension. The area was very wooded back then and one of the first things one noticed was the tonk tonk of the barbets. You couldn't miss it and they went on whether it was their breeding season or not. Salim Ali once counted a bird doing 254 tonks non stop."

As he speaks I cannot help but notice the large patch of land being readied for some construction behind his apartment and that is view he probably gets every day morning when he wakes up.

"During an evening walk around Sankey Tank those days, one would see dozens of wagtails feeding in a row. Where they roosted I don't know, but the tank was famous for a sparrow roost. There used to be this line of bushes and the nesting and roosting behaviour of the sparrows was extraordinary. It was said that the paired birds used to nest in one bush and the unpaired in another, somewhat like a dormitory."

As talk drifts towards conservation issues, veteran birdwatcher M.B. Krishnaobserves: "Birds have brought the habitat, hobby groups and the environment into focus. People today talk about trees as birds can't find a home. Once there was an effort to chase away pelicans nesting at Lalbagh!"

A happy first

Dr. Krishna has spent most of his time at Lalbagh observing the species that roost there. This year, he says, one must cherish the news that cormorants are breeding for the first time there. Due credit must go to the birdwatchers who, in spite of mostly being hobbyists, brought public focus on the city's dwindling lakes.

Dr. Subramanya says that the sparrow was a casualty of changing human practices but some birds have started learning to adapt to changes that urbanisation has forced on them. "Mynahs have adapted to live on coconut palm tops rather than tree trunk hollows, some ornithologists claim. Barn owls used to be rare but today they are in plenty because poor garbage distribution has resulted in more rats. And pigeons are thriving."

Futehally blames pollution for driving most of the smaller species of birds away. Only species that nest high above the ground are able to breather cleaner and find food. "Koramangala has plenty of trees, all kinds of trees, but no birds. It is the pollution. There are no insects left and small birds such as bulbuls, sunbirds and flycatchers need them."

Beyond the sparrow


Birds at Lalbagh from the
Seventies to now
Common iora - disappeared
Tailorbird - much rarer
Magpie robin - much rarer
Ashy wren warbler - much rarer
Coppersmith barbet - very much rarer
Spotted dove - very much rarer
Garganey - disappeared
Common teal - disappeared
Marsh harrier - disappeared