How I started relating to the birds in my yard — 2
Born into an urban family, I grew up in and around wild places because of my father’s job. Monkeys and snakes inside the house were not uncommon and I saw a tigress stalking a deer when I was five. But it wasn’t until I was well into my 30s that I realised I hadn’t paid much attention to the flying creatures who were everywhere.
I started focussing on them not least because I moved to Goa — a state that makes up .1% of land mass of India while being home to 37% of its bird species. Here they are beautiful and plentiful. I learned about the bird man of Goa who became well known simply for sharing his love for birds and lives not far from a bird sanctuary named after India’s only celebrity ornithologist, Salim Ali.
Birders are a fascinating breed. They have incredible knowledge and abilities. They can often identify a species by a distant call or by the shape of a bird flying across the sky. And at the same time they can be strangely competitive with their furious list-making and dismissal of more common species.
While bird watching as a sport can be fun, I found that my interest came from a sudden awakening to the fact that we were surrounded by these strange mini dinosaurs. I wanted to know who these creatures I shared my spaces with were. Everything they do is peculiar in relation to our own ways of being.
I began modestly and bought a wildlife of India book. I would see a colourful little thing chirping while sucking nectar from heliconias by my bedroom window. Then I would scan through the little birds in the book and make a mental note to pay attention to its beak shape or wing colour so I could confirm its identity. I started to notice traits like their body shape, size, where they like to hang out, and if they were alone, in pairings or in groups.
Over the last year, I am getting better and better at absorbing a fuller picture of each bird I see. Naming a bird species, I have also learned, is just one way of relating. It is only the beginning of acknowledgment and understanding.
