Monthly Archives: January 2020

History of Birdwatching

           History of Birdwatching

Before we jump into the topic of ‘how to do birdwatching?’.we just go back into time 

to know the history…and by now very reader will gets to bore but its as a beginner of birdwatching, we should know the origin of birdwatching

                      In mid 1700’s, Most of the people are watched birds for hunting as a sport,mainly for food and later  Gilbert WhiteThomas BewickGeorge Montagu and John Clare. Are the persons who initially recorded the birds as an ecologist for their study and research purpose.And later the study of birds and nature is increased widely in Victoria era(1837-1901),they collected birds egg ,feather and latter they preserved their feather and they started to collected across worldwide where they were into colonise…

                        It was only in the late 19th century that the call for bird protection began leading to the rising popularity of observations on living birds. The Audubon Society was started to protect birds from the growing trade in feathers in the United States while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds began in Britain.Birding in North America was focused in the early and mid-20th century in the eastern seaboard region, and was influenced by the works of Ludlow Griscom and later Roger Tory PetersonBird Neighbors (1897) by Neltje Blanchan was an early birding book which sold over 250,000 copies. It was illustrated with color photographs of stuffed birdsThe organization and networking of those interested in birds began through organizations like the Audubon Society that was against the killing of birds and the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU).The rising popularity of the car increased the mobility of birdwatchers and this made new locations accessible to those interested in birds.Networks of birdwatchers in the UK began to form in the late 1930s under the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The BTO saw the potential to produce scientific results through the networks, unlike the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which like the Audubon Society originated from the bird protection movement.Like the AOU in North America, the BOU had a focus mainly in collection based taxonomy. The BOU changed focus to ecology and behaviour only in the 1940s. The BTO movement towards ‘organized birdwatching’, was opposed by the RSPB which claimed that the ‘scientification’ of the pastime was ‘undesirable’. This stand was to change only in 1936 when the RSPB was taken over by Tom Harrisson and others. Harrisson was instrumental in the organization of pioneering surveys of the great crested grebe.nitially, birdwatching was a hobby undertaken in developed countries such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, since the second half of the 20th century an increasing number of people in developing countries have engaged in this activity. Transnational birding has played an important role in this, as birders in developing countries usually take up the pastime under the influence of foreign cultures with a history of birding.

  

                  In India,Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 – 20 June 1987) was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Sometimes referred to as the “Birdman of India“, Salim Ali was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and wrote several bird books that popularized ornithology in India. He became a key figure behind the Bombay Natural History Society after 1947 and used his personal influence to garner government support for the organisation, create the Bharatpur bird sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park) and prevent the destruction of what is now the Silent Valley National Park. Along with Sidney Dillon Ripley he wrote the landmark ten volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, a second edition of which was completed after his death. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976, India’s third and second highest civilian honours respectively Several species of birds, a couple of bird sanctuaries and institutions have been named after him. Salim Ali was very influential in ensuring the survival of the BNHS and managed to save the then 100-year-old institution by writing to the then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru for financial help.

             And hence as an inspiration of salim Ali..many birdwatchers were came and done their role in conservation and studies of birds.. And but Tamilian were also considered first to start birdwatching ..still youngindianbirding is doing research on …we will soon release our work paper article in upcoming articles..DO watch the upcoming article in research column in our website..

      Soon we will update with advanced details about birdwatching in upcoming article shortly…

Have an nice day…

Facts about birds

  • The oldest bird was known as an Archaeopteryx and lived about 150 million years ago. It was the size of a raven, was covered with feathers, and had wings.
  • The most yolks ever found in a single chicken’s egg is nine.
  • An ostrich egg needs to be boiled for 2 hours to get a hard-boiled egg.
  • The Royal Albatross’ eggs take 79 days to hatch.
  • The egg of the hummingbird is the world’s smallest bird’s egg; the egg of the ostrich, the world’s largest.
  • The now-extinct elephant bird of Madagascar laid an egg that weighed 27 pounds.
  • Precocial birds like chickens, ostriches, ducks, and seagulls hatch ready to move around. They come from eggs with bigger yolks than altricial birds like owls, woodpeckers, and most small songbirds that need a lot of care from parents in order to survive.
  • Air sacs may make up 1/5 of the body volume of a bird.
  • A bird’s normal body temperature is usually 7-8 degrees hotter than a human’s. Up to three-quarters of the air a bird breathes is used just for cooling down since they are unable to sweat.
  • A bird’s heart beats 400 times per minute while resting and up to 1000 beats per minute while flying.
  • The world’s only wingless bird is the kiwi of New Zealand.
  • Migrating ducks and geese often fly in V-shape formations. Each bird flies in the upwash of its neighbor’s beating wings and this extra bit of supporting wind increases lift, thereby saving energy.
  • Falcons can swoop at over 200 mph.
  • Penguins, ostriches, and dodo birds are all birds that do not fly.
  • Hummingbirds eat about every ten minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day.
  • The homing pigeon, Cher Ami, lost an eye and a leg while carrying a message in World War I. Cher Ami won the Distinguished Service Cross. Its leg was replaced with a wooden leg.
  • The only known poisonous bird in the world is the hooded pitohui of Papua, New Guinea. The poison is found in its skin and feathers.
  • The American turkey vulture helps human engineers detect cracked or broken underground fuel pipes. The leaking fuel smells like vulture food (they eat carrion), and the clustered birds show repair people where the lines need fixing.

Trip to karumkulam

   Today I am going to share my trip to karumkulam on 13.012019 sunday. I with my family went to a trip to Thiruchendur and while I am returning to my home town on the way , I just shocked and stops my car and got down to see the waterbody in karumkulam.It was very beautiful and lucky I brought my camera with me..and I started to do birdwatching with my father and got excused from my family for not going to be on time in home..And then  lately I came to know that ‘it will be an eligible for declaring as a biodiversity point’ as said by an member of an association atree

And then I started to click some photographs which will be posted in below and I uploaded my checklist in our website..so please check the checklist column in our website..And with the some friends help in locality we started to explore the nearby birding spots.. 

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And then on my way we spotted an Ayyanar Kovil which was crowded due to some ongoing festival in that temple and it has two water bodies at the side of temple but I went off searching cormorant with feather cleaning or an kingfisher which is waiting to hunt but what I saw was  an man who is taking bath to attend the festival and other who came also starts to enjoy the environment and waterbodies..so I went off from that place and visited the nearby reserve forest..but already its a noon so I couldn’t do any birding..but interesting thing that I noticed and likes to share with you is that it has red sand which was very interesting and I just uploaded the photo..and lately I came to know that only in that area in tamil nadu has red sand…

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   Then I came to know the water bodies got its source from thamiraibharani river, 

And I just wanted to share some facts that I came across on visiting the place is that its is the only river which get originating in tamil nadu and end in tamilnadu and it gives water to Tuticorin and tirunelveli district and its a only river in tamilnadu which gives water for nearly 9 moths an year.

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And by know the you will all get interested and astonished and by now I want inform that  orgin of the river is from kalakadu mundanthurai tiger reserve forest in wester ghats

And form this we could able to understand and correlate about the necessity of saving wildlife and forest.Due to an forest officers and with the help of an UNESCO 

and with support of our government ,the pouching and deforestation and other activities which result in destruction of wildlife is conserved and protected and the local tribes were relocated from the forest with the help of government without losing their earning by allocating money for their benefit and work..And still now its become an dense forest which were became the ‘non human enter’ forest before .And due to the effective conservation of wildlife and forest it serve indirectly to the humans by providing water and thereby by in promoting in agriculture…Its an typical example of a frequent question which come across me 

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‘why we should save the forest and whats its use in it..?”

And let’s get back to our trip, after completing the birding we started to moving and we came to know about Sri Vaikuntam and we started to do birding during driving and we reached the place and its is also an important biodiversity point

(may declare 2019)sine it has over 300 terminal arjuna(maarthua maram in tamil)

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Which was planted by Rani mangamal over 100 + years back .which got turned intresting about the place and another fascinating news that really turned me more attractive was.There are nearly 300+ fruit eating bat were hanging and some are flying in around that place and all the bat are waiting for night and its presented just above the national highway which pass the town and some people are also living without disturbing the bat.And after watching the bat I really needed to move from that place because I couldn’t  get any excuse for  further stopping our car and disturb my family trip so we started our journey and finally around 8 ‘0 clock night I reached home and after my dinner got over.i opened my laptop and made the article to share my trip experience with my birding friends.

And as a take home message which I learned and remember back was to

1.save nature and wildlife for our human survival

2.There is no need of going sanctuary and forest for birding, it can be done in your locality near your house or any lake nearby and we have to take initiation for saving that birds spot near you .

And soon friends we will meet up with another intresting trip report … 

Trip to aaritapatti

             Arittapatti

Today I will like to share my trip to arittapatti, I with my father along with my birding friend and senior to me Mr.rameshwaran sir decided and made an trip on 25.12.2018.so we started our journey early morning and travelled towards madurai,tamilnadu with an middle tea break.And before the toll gate of madurai.we  took an right and traveled towards arritapatti..trip to aaritapatti

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   And after reaching, we contacted our native birdwatching friends in that village and we started our journey in exploring the beauty of that village..while on the way we passed an lake which got abundant fish, small crabby due to insufficiency of rain in that area this year there is an very low water were there and as usual the birds which will usually present in any waterbodies  such as cormorants ,heron,egrets,kingfisher ,and beside of the lake ,the people of that village were farming..And the beauty of that village is that we cannot be passed unless crossing the village people.

And later I went inside towards an mountain as guided by my friend, and along the walk there was a very thick scrub forest and it is filled with warbler, babblers,malkoha,starlings,myna and so on …for the check list please check out  my website checklist column..And let we get back to our field..And on my way I just saw an glare hole with an trunk of an tree in mountain..i just felt of something.so I just zoomed  with my 600mm lens and it was shocking and surprised that I spotted an Indian eagle owl ,and after taking some photos ..we continued are trekking

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And another fascinating and interesting thing that happens was there is an pregreion falcon which was flying like an jet in the sky and so it was spotted by my friends and later on I came to know that it is an usual siting which is more complicated in other biriding spots ..but that was an unlucky day to me because if not I would click an photo of the falcon but its just an one minute siting and later on we just started to trekking

And after birding was ended ..we sat up talked with our friends and later on it came to know that there are high pouching was taking place in that site and the people were educated about an necessity of saving the nature and the people are also taking efforts by protecting of any foreign intruder into the site.since I am a close of them, they had permitted itseems..And its also been asked to declare as an important biodiversity spot and so paper are submitted in the biodiversity board

And due to the presence of the mountain, the village people are getting rain (in the concept of rain shadow region in geography)and some water source by the mountain and so there are worshiping as an god for them and they know the importance of them and so they giving their full effort in taking every action to conserve the nature and birds

The village was present as we see in our old movie ,and it was really surprised because I am not raised in village ,i am a city brought up and so its looks so pleasant with natural wind ,no man made sound or traffic sound or anything, it appears like some island which is isolated from whole world.And another interesting fact is that its situated just 30+ km away from the main Madurai city

And so I ended up with a good experience  with minimal shots and returned to home with my heart left behind in the aaritapatti