Bird Boy

Delhi was all he could ask for. On his first visit to his school in Chanakyapuri,he found himself looking out the window and eyeing black drongos in flight. Living in Bharti Nagar,in close proximity to the sprawling greens of the Lodi area,Udiyaman spent winter mornings listening for the sharp trill of the red throated flycatcher,“a shy,small bird found in thick tree cover” and the pleasant twitter of the less common grey headed canary flycatcher. “Its call is five notes long. It goes,‘chik-wichee-wichee’,” Udiyaman mimics. An early riser,he would walk his dog while pointing out long tailed minivets in Sanjay Van,Hume’s warblers in the Lodi Gardens and the wintering northern pintail in Okhla Bird Park to his father,who got him his second bird book on July 28 last year—his birthday. “Half of Delhi’s birds are winter migrants,” Udiyaman says. “Last winter,I spotted the bank mynah and the common starling—usually found in the countryside—in Delhi. The thick fog had made them stray into the city. They were unusually active well into the morning.”

For all his interest in birds—Udiyaman loves to sketch and photograph them—he wants to become a scientist and continue birdwatching only as a hobby. “There aren’t enough opportunities for birdwatchers in India,” he says with a matter-of-factness that belies his 12 years. But ask him what’s his favourite bird and his eyes light up again. “My favourite is always the last bird I spotted. Currently it’s the grey breasted prinia I saw in Sanjay Van recently. It’s a warbler,a songbird,” Udiyaman says,even as he waits to confirm his sighting of the thick billed flowerpecker.