They were always there that you took them for granted. You woke up listening to the incessant chirping of the fluffy little sparrows and watched a long line of birds, noisily making their way home to mark the end of another day. So many times you must have shooed them away, these little birds as they hopped around your courtyard, or as they looked inquisitively through your window.
Not any more, at least in the city and its ever burgeoning suburbs. These bundles of joy have flown away to some other unknown, quiet place.
The birds have flown away
Look around now and all that you may spot are the common crow, pigeon and some of those migratory birds that make the city a short stopover. Gone are the sparrows, hornbills, green pigeons, kingfishers and purple sunbirds.
The reasons are not hard to find. Altered urban environment, changing architecture, pollution, pesticides in food-grains, electromagnetic radiation from high tension electric wires, from mobile towers are again reported to be reasons for dwindling bird population.
Rare spotting
It is in this context that any spotting of a rare bird, why even some of the common ones, in the precincts of the city makes cheerful news, sets birdies on its trail and bird enthusiasts grabbing their binoculars.
This was the mood at Jwalagiri, when a group of young birdies of Love Green Club, students of Kochi Refinery School, teachers and a couple of BPCL officials, spotted the rare Black Baza, inside the Kochi Refinery premises at Ambalamugal. The BPCL team included Kripesh C. K. and Bijoy K. I., both members of the Kerala Birder community. It was Bijoy who took photographs of the bird.
“The first spotting was in late December 2010. It was a single bird. Then this month we saw it again, a couple of them, and we took photographs. We met Dr. R. Sugathan of Thattekkad Bird sanctuary who confirmed that it was the elusive Black Baza,” says C. Satish Kumar, teacher, Kochi Refinery School who heads the school's nature club.
According to Dr. Salim Ali the bird scientifically listed as the Indian Blackcrested Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) is usually 33 cms in size, is predominantly black and white with a conspicuous black crest, white and chestnut patches on wings. This migratory bird is seen in tropical evergreen foothills. In fact, it is much sought after by birdies that come in search of it at Thattekkad.
“What we wondered was why was this bird seen in Ambalamugal? Perhaps it was because it is located on the western tip of the Western Ghats and importantly because of the green cover, huge undisturbed land area, the quiet, in Jwalagiri and FACT colony, feels S. Anujan one of enthusiasts of the bird watching club.”
According to top Birder and guide K. V. Eldhose the Black Baza is usually found in lowland forest areas between November and March. “It is seen among trees with broad leaves and feeds on caterpillars and small insects. This species is migratory and is not known to nest here. This has indeed been a special spotting.”
Love Green Club, the Nature club of the school, has since 2004 been actively involved in various ‘green' activities.
“We have had a tremendous response right from the time we started. So from this year we have restricted membership to just students of eighth, ninth and tenth standards. Apart from regular nature camps we have regular activities like setting up a medicinal garden, we have an aquarium that is managed by the students themselves, saplings are planted on birthdays of children, trees in the colony are identified and we also assist in garbage disposal. Two of our new projects are members planting two banana plants in their homes and we are part of Simon Britto, MLA's initiative of planting trees and instead of forgetting all about it caring for it right through.”
Different species
The club was involved in the Kerala Bird Race for the last two years. “Ambalamugal was selected as the area for the group's bird identification in 2009. More than 50 different species were spotted in six hours. The find of the expedition was the Pompadour Green Pigeons, which were found in group of about a dozen. Some of the other birds we spotted in the refinery campus and colony were three varieties of Orioles (Eurasian Golden, Black Headed and Black Naped), three varieties of Kingfishers (common, white breasted and pied), three varieties of wagtails (yellow, large pied and forest), Red Spurfowl, and Paradise Flycatcher.”
But for them catching a rare glimpse of the Black Baza in their own backyard has been the best so far. “In the bird watch session conducted in December 2010, the Black Baza was spotted in the colony and they are still around. This bird, which is a migrant, is usually not spotted outside Thattekkad. Another big spotting was the Whistling Ducks that landed in the water bodies of the premises in mid-November but abandoned the place within a month. It is such things that keep our interest alive,” says Satish Kumar.
