TAKE WING

Like birds,those who watch them come in all shapes and sizes. There are the ornithologists and the biologists; the active birders,who meticulously keep journals and rise at first light to head to the nearest wooded patch. The tickers,who doggedly track the birds theyve jotted down in their life-list. Then there are the twitchers,extremists even in the obsessive world of bird-watching,who leave no stone unturned to sight as many species as they possibly can,swept along by the fervour of spotting a new lifera species one sights for the first time.

WHAT IT TAKES
You need nothing more than a keen pair of eyes and a pictorial guide to birds in your area. One of the books Indian amateurs swear by is the Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent published by Christopher Helm in 2002,24.99 by Richard Grimmett and Carol and Tim Inskipp. Keep your bird book handy so you can look up a bird as soon as you have spotted it,and match the sighting with the features mentioned in the book, Singh says. It wont hurt to get your birding Bible bound or covered with a water-proof sheet. Singhs copy is rather tattered. Its my field book. It has got drenched in the rain half a dozen times, he says. Singh also recommends a pair of 8215;40 magnification and diameter of the objective lens binoculars by Olympus or Nikon,which costs Rs 3,000-4,000. As you scale up on the specifications,the binoculars become unwieldy, he says.
At Okhla Bird Sanctuary,on the banks of the Yamuna,where Singh and a few other members of the Delhi Bird Network are spying herons and endemic striated babblers,binoculars come in handy,be it to admire the plumage of a flock of red munias,follow the acrobatics of a green bee-eater or snoop on a wood sandpiperwhich breeds in Central Asia and Siberia and winters herewading in the mud 300 feet away. A bird is not just an object on the other side of your binoculars,its part of a habitat. Keep your eyes open for movement, Singh says,as we hear an Oriental white eye calling from the crannies of a banyan.
Bird sounds are entertaining,but for a newbie,they can be baffling. The laughing dove does not coo,it chuckles. That rattle in the flowering bushes is that of the purple sunbird,but without its iridescent breeding plumage,its practically indistinguishable in the foliage. Theres also a deceptive little mimic in the woods. The Oriental magpie robin mimics the calls of other birdsso much so that when it produces a migrants cry in the summer,the best of birders are puzzled. Not to worry,though,there are websites,like http://www.xeno-canto.org,where you can download just about every bird call in the world and train your ears to listen for the sound the next time you see the bird.

THE HOMEWORK
Ninety per cent of birdwatching is reading. As you begin to observe birds,it is natural to want to know more about their behaviour,habitat and history, says Singh,who regularly shares accounts of his birding activities on Facebook. On his shelves are authoritative and scientific guides such as the two-volume Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Singh points to a recent atlas of the birds of Delhi and Haryana by Bill Harvey,Nikhil Devasar and Bikram Grewal,which he says is the first local bird atlas based on volunteer surveys across regional grids published in India.

WHERE TO BEGIN
The Indian subcontinent is home to over 1,200 species of birds. Every sq km of this country has a few birds. Often,the neighbourhood park or garden is a good place to watch birds, says Singh. That said,a weekly trip to a wooded area in the early hours of morningany time of the yearfollowed by a session with your bird book,will teach you the basics of birdwatching. Just dont let it get to you when,after spending four hours with your eyes glued to the sky,you cant get bird names right. It helps to join a group of birders. These days there are Internet-based groups like the Mumbai Birdwatchers Club and the Birdwatchers Field Club of Bangalore in every metro in India and watch the watchers, he says. Indeed,one-and-a-half hours into the birding expedition led by Singh and Dr Yogesh,a paediatrician and avid birder,we have spotted over 50 species,from red-wattled lapwings in breeding plumage to long-tailed shrikes,known as butcher birds because of their ruthless penchant for hanging or impaling dragonflies and other insects for consuming at leisure. As we walk back to the gate of the park and beyond,the sky dappled with egrets cruising above,the birders still have their eyes trained on a tree where they had seen owlets nesting a few weeks ago.