Spring in a Watch

After coming to the UK the 2 birding events which I keep looking forward are BBC Springwatch and the UK Bird fair. Since BBC Autumnwatch is being broadcast this week it would be timely for me to pen my thoughts on this television series. And leave my UK Birdfair experience to a future blog.

Just like Olympics making its appearance every four years, BBC TV has been broadcasting live the best of British wildlife three times in a year every summer, autumn and winter which is appropriately titled - BBC Springwatch, BBC Autumnwatch and BBC Winterwatch. Springwatch is broadcast 4 nights each week for three weeks during May-June every year. Whereas its spinoffs - the Autumnwatch and Winterwatch are broadcast for 4 nights during October (autumn) and January (winter) months respectively.

The program format is very simple & straightforward. The 1-hour live program is presented by some of the most well-known wildlife celebrities from one of the nature reserves in the UK. This is one of the largest outside broadcast events from BBC as more than hundred crew members and 50 cameras, mostly hidden and remotely controlled, capture the fortunes of the British wildlife through the 3 seasons.

Unlike a documentary which generally focusses on a specific species or some location or an event, the hidden cameras in Springwatch takes you through the life and times, struggles for survival, behavior, eating habits, of not only birds or the mammals like foxes, badgers, mice, deer, rabbits, stoats or hedgehogs but also of flowers, butterflies, ants, fish, snakes & many such tiny creatures, which we do not even think about. Only yesterday I learned that there is an Earthworm society in Britain to promote and support scientific research for earthworms and their environment!! The series also highlights the good work being done by various people across Britain towards conservation. 

What hooked me onto Springwatch last year was the story of the Golden Eagle chick from the Scottish highlands. And when the golden eagle chick finally fledged I was also amongst the hundreds who enjoyed that moment. Each of the stories presented in the series is not only informative in nature but also presented in an entertaining manner which will thrill and move any viewer. I felt like crying when the Eurasian Jay preyed on the blue tit chicks one by one from the nest.  And it gives me goosebumps every time when an update is provided about the latest location status of a migrating bird. Almost every series has some unique field experiments/tests on the wildlife which brings out the behavior of a particular specie. A case in the point was the mouse experiment in the food maze in the Winterwatch 2016. Absolutely brilliant!!

It is like watching a reality TV show but here the stars are all the other cohabitants of Planet Earth, apart from humans.

British TV has been blessed to have Live Natural History TV programs like Badgerwatch, Birdwatch, Reefwatch, Beachwatch and such other shows since the 1970s.  And the rich history and presence of matured audience have helped Springwatch to evolve into a beacon for spreading nature education and conservation in the UK. As per TV ratings, every episode of Springwatch 2017 was watched by an average 2.2 million people.  It has a strong social media presence with the BBC Springwatch official website offering video content allowing viewers and program makers to interact through the message board, blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts. And I have seen thousands of twitter feeds & social media posts which keeps the public engaged.

With all this going around, a thought comes to me - why have we not attempted a Live Natural History program in India, which has a fabulous & diverse wildlife flora and fauna. We have the biodiversity, passionate wildlife experts/ naturalists, dedicated conservationists, iconic organizations like BNHS /other natural societies, researchers, brilliant filmmakers, highly effervescent media and a large market. And above all, there is a need to protect India’s nature and wildlife which is under threat every minute as I type this. I know there will be challenges like liaising with government agencies and getting permission to shoot in forest/reserves. Another major deterrent will be the huge costs involved in producing such a series even on a modest scale. But I am hoping we will have a #Indiawatch soon live on Indian TV for Indian audience charting the fortunes of Indian wildlife.

Like all good things, BBC Autumnwatch 2017 will come to an end - the 4^th and final episode will be broadcast tonight. And now for Winterwatch – January I am Waiting.

The Flying Beauties

Few days ago as I was cleaning up my wardrobe, my hands fell on a “SAVE THE HORNBILL” branded T-shirt, which I have seldom worn since coming to the UK. Sighting of this T-shirt transported me back in memory to a Hornbill experience which was simply out of the world. This happened couple of years ago when information had flown in through our birding friends that a flock of Malabar Pied Hornbills can be sighted early in the morning at the Plantation Valley near Athirapalli. When we got this update, we quickly made our plans to do birding in that area for the coming weekend lest we miss out this opportunity.

Hornbills are one of the strange looking birds I have ever seen. It looks as if it has come out of the Jurassic era. And Malabar Pied Hornbills look even bizarre. This species measures 65 cm in length with a dark plumage all over, except a white patch on the belly & throat. What gives this bird a unique look is its large curved creamy yellow bill and a large black and creamy white casque.  The legs are covered with white feathers and the feet are bare and grey. And in flight they look magnificent just like their cousins – the Great Hornbill. The Malabar pied Hornbill species feast mainly on mostly fruits, berries, figs and sometimes small mammals, small birds, small reptiles and insects. Malabar Pied Hornbills are endemic to low elevation forests in limited locations of South India and Sri Lanka.

Sangeetha, a fellow TCSer friend volunteered to take us to the spot as she had been there an earlier weekend. Athirapalli was approximately 2 hour drive, to be precise 60 km, from Tripunithura where we stayed. When we started early morning from our home at half past four on 7^th March, it was pitch dark outside. Picking up Sangeetha on the way we reached near Plantation valley when dawn was about to break. We parked our car on the roadside and walked into the vacant grassland adjacent to  the Chalakudy River. This patch was an ideal spot for birding since we could see trees on all the four sides so any flight or movement could be easily sighted. Though there was not much birding activity l we could still see few Orioles, Bulbuls, Mynas, Bee-eaters, Drongos, Parakeets and crows flying around, endlessly chirping.

As we waited to see the grand spectacle of a flock of Malabar Pied Hornbill there, doubts crept into my mind as to whether these birds will give it a miss on a Saturday, just like we take time off from our work during weekends. But that was not to be.

At exactly 6.35 am, we heard the flapping of wings and the first Hornbill came into our view. It came and perched on a tree to our right, some 100 meters away. This was followed by a couple, then by few more hornbills.  Within a few minutes, the entire patch of land was reverberating with the screaming “rrraah..rrraah" sound not from 1 but at least 30 plus hornbills perched along the trees along the Chalakudy River. It seemed that the hornbills were gorging on fruits/figs from the tree or playing games with each other - or was it some morning ritual? I don’t know, but I have never seen such a sight until then.

Though I had seen Malabar Pied Hornbills on couple of occasions earlier, the air show by this flock was simply awesome. And for these five minutes I was transported to another world - hornbills flying from one tree to another, chasing each other and in the process entertaining us with this grand visual treat. I have read reports that we get absolutely stunning group sightings of this amazing bird in Dandeli in Karnataka which is surely in my birding agenda.

The early morning mist in the forest area prevented us from getting any great photographs. However my eyes captured each movement and is etched in my memory. I don’t know whether we will ever be able to see such beauty pageants in the years to come since there may be no more Malabar Pied Hornbills flying around in our forests. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has categorized and evaluated the Hornbill species as "Near Threatened". The Athirappalli-Vazhachal forests are the only available nesting location for the threatened Malabar Pied Hornbills in Kerala. The umbilical relationship these birds have with this rain forest is now threatened due to the 163-MW Athirapalli hydroelectric project proposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). It is said that this project may affect 138 hectares of forest land which includes the high canopy trees where the Hornbills nest. Anyway, deforestation, human disturbance and, to a lesser extent, poaching in these forests have already created the imbalance in the biodiversity of the Western Ghats. And it seems we may now be nearing the 'Point Of No Return' for these stunning birds in Athirappalli-Vazhachal forests.

PS: My “Save The Hornbill” branded T-shirt is now ironed and ready, awaiting a sunny weekend for birding. 

Little Poll Parrot

Two of the beauties we spotted

Last weekend, during our bird walk in Liverpool Sefton Park I heard the squawking call of a very familiar bird. It was coming from the tall trees in the wooded area to my left. I stopped in my track as I took out my binoculars and started gazing into the trees from where the call was heard. My wife Nisha came up from behind and confirmed my doubt that it was indeed the call of a Rose-ringed Parakeet. No sooner did she say that, than we saw a couple of parakeets fly out and disappear into another set of trees 50 metres away. And in the next few minutes, we saw at least 4 parakeets fly in and out of the woods with all the squealing and squawking. Though we did not get any good photographs, we could capture few record shots of this magnificent bird.

During my growing up years in North Indian cities, we used to see this bird fly across the blue sky into any wooded area or a garden. These birds have always been part of Indian folklore, songs & culture. I have always considered them a common Indian bird, just like a mynah or a bulbul. One of my friends in Lucknow had this exotic, beautiful looking bird as a pet. These birds were excellent mimics and when trained could speak in the native language. We would spend hours feeding it with chillies & nuts and enjoy its ‘Namaste’. Of course, in those days we called it a Parrot. And it was only after my bird watching hobby picked up that I learned that Vernal Hanging Parrot was the only “Parrot” found in India and what we admired was actually a Parakeet, specifically a Rose Ringed Parakeet.

Rose Ringed Parakeet is a medium sized gregarious bird with yellow-green plumage, hooked reddish-pinkish beak and long graduated tail. As the name suggests, the male sports a reddish – pinkish neck ring whereas the female and juvenile birds of both sexes either show no neck rings or display shadow-like pale to dark grey neck rings. In the wild, rose-ringed parakeets usually feed on nuts, berries, seeds, buds, fruits & vegetables. This bird is found across India right from foothills of Himalayas to the plains, urban areas, open countryside with trees, dry and open forest, semi-desert areas, open bushy areas, wooded valleys and evergreen forests.

And when I sighted this bird the first time in the Britain at Sefton Park last year, I was thrilled and happy as if I were meeting an old acquaintance. There was another sighting of this bird at the Greenwich Park in London in May this year. It is indeed a marvel of nature that a tropical Indian bird has so well adapted to the British climate and conditions, especially the harsh winters. These birds probably first came from India to Britain as pets but then escaped into the wild. The first reported breeding in the wild took place in 1969 and since then there has been a rapid increase in their numbers. The current RSPB official counts pegs at a breeding population of 8600 pairs. There are now large flocks residing in South East England, in London parks (all the 33 London boroughs have reported this species), North West, Scotland and other parts of the country.

On the other hand, it is now believed that these naturalised species have started to have had a direct impact on the dwindling numbers of the resident British bird species like nuthatches, woodpeckers, starlings, tits...etc. There is fierce competition not only for food but also for nest holes - the parakeet starts nesting early in Feb, much before the other British resident birds. Some experts are also comparing parakeets with the grey squirrels that have largely driven out the red squirrels across Britain. To safeguard the native species, there have been calls for culling of the parakeets, however, RSPB is not in favour of such a move and advocates close monitoring of the growing number of parakeets and its negative impact. Though an introduced species, the parakeets are nevertheless protected in the wild under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

This is the story of the Rose-Ringed Parakeet which initially arrived in Britain on a Pet visa (Tourist visa) converted it into Migration visa (Work Permit) and finally became a resident citizen. Due to the rising numbers, the original resident species feeling threatened call for culling and extermination of the migrated species. Eerie coincidence!! Heard this argument somewhere?