Early Bird

Early Bird, one of the projects of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) of India, is involved in getting young people interested in and excited about birds, by creating high-quality print and online material that can be used as useful birding resources. Although the material is aimed at children, I am using it to target people who are "young" at birding!

In November 2015, I bought a set of flashcards containing high quality bird photographs with information about the bird and its behaviour, its call, etc. I also bought an easy-to-carry field-guide poster on 135 common birds of the Indian peninsula. The two were promptly delivered at my doorstep and have proved to be a valuable and attractive way to get people's attention, start a conversation or identify a bird seen recently. Definitely great value for money...

Flash Cards of Common Birds of India

Pocket Guide of Birds of Peninsular India

Books

The following books are filled with wonderful information about birds of the Indian subcontinent and serve as great reference guides to identify and learn about birds.

Birding Guides

• Birds of India by Kryz Kazmierczak, Om Field Guides
• A Photographic Guide to Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Bill Harvey and Otto Pfister
• Birds of India by Norman Arlott, Collins Field Guide, 2015 edition
• A Pictorial Field Guide to Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Sumit Sen, Sarwandeep Singh, Nikhil Devasar and Garima Bhatia, Om Books International, 2016 edition.

Latest addition!

Bird Feeder

A friend of mine bought two bird feeders from Nature Forever in February 2015. They were simple to setup and we hung them at "strategic" locations in the NBRC campus. We filled it with broken uncooked rice first, and then also with bajra seeds. The food was popular with the birds (from earlier experiences), but the birds struggled to land at the feeder and use the openings to access the food. This plan didn't seem to take off with the birds unfortunately, but I am considering giving it another go.

Bird Feeder filled with broken uncooked rice

A curious Lesser Whitethroat at the feeder

Jungle Babblers eating in turn

An opportunistic squirrel!

Birds of a feather

I have been very fortunate to have had friends who shared my interest in birding as a hobby. From PhD students to summer interns, these are the people who have accompanied me on numerous birding trips, explored new trails, listened to bird calls and shared the same excitement on spotting a bird as I did! 

A good part of the encouragement to make this blog also stems from this group. All of them have contributed to my wonderful birding experiences and I am thankful for the everlasting memories.

Radhika Rajan

Sreeparna Pradhan

Kautuk Kamboj

Raghav Shankar

Anagh Pathak

Shiladitya Laskar

Others I have gone birding with on a few occasions:

Richard Edden

Shammi More, Suvarnalata XD and Sumiti Saharan

For a few dollars more...

A gift to my mother found its way back to me in September 2006 as she felt I would put it to better use. The digital camera would go on to become an extension of my hand, and photography a lifelong hobby!

My first digital camera - Nikon Coolpix L1

The Nikon Coolpix L1 takes good stills and is particularly good at macro photos.

The Coolpix L1 is, however, not best suited for bird photography. It has a slow shutter which makes it difficult to shoot moving objects. The low 5x zoom (which was high for a point-and-shoot digicam about 10 years back!) also prevents clear viewing of birds at a moderate distance. The camera was soon upstaged in the tech market by sleeker models boasting higher zoom with better resolution, but I decided to stick it out with the L1.

The sudden access to taking a large number of photos without the worry of spending for a film encouraged me to use the camera to take all kinds of photos, including those of birds near home in Bangalore. I realized I enjoyed photography and I stuck to it as a hobby through my Master's degree at the University of Sussex, England, and towards the beginning of my research career at the National Brain Research Centre in Manesar, Haryana, India.

After 3 years at NBRC and getting a feel for the rich biodiversity of the place, I decided to invest in a new camera. My continued interest in birds and insects, animals and nature demanded the use of multiple lenses with a DSLR which I could not afford at the time (and probably still can't!)

So in November 2013, I decided to invest in an "all-purpose" point-and-shoot digicam, the Canon Powershot SX50 HS.

Canon Powershot SX50 HS

Canon Powershot SX50 HS

With a 24-1200mm range (50x zoom) the camera is great at bringing subjects at a wide range of distances into focus. The camera has very impressive image stabilization, a sharp sensor and colorful display. It seemed like the best buy in the market when I bought it, but even this camera was soon upstaged in the tech market, by Canon themselves! The Powershot SX60HS with 65x zoom and a few extra features! But again, I decided to stick it out with the SX50 and have no regrets.

All of the bird photos posted on this blog were taken using the Canon Powershot SX50 HS...

Note: I have also tried other point-and-shoot digital cameras such as the Nikon Coolpix L810 (26x zoom) and the Canon Powershot SX60 HS (65x zoom). The Canon clearly outperforms the Nikon with respect to zoom, image stabilization, auto-focus and color display .