Bird watching not just a hobby, but there is lot more to it!

Lokmat News Network

Nagpur, March 23

The Covid pandemic has changed the way people use to look at things before. It has impacted the lives of all right from small children to the elderly and people are still coming to terms with it. One thing, which had a positive impact of the Covid pandemic, was that mother nature healed itself. People became more conscious of nature and environment and started observing little things and also picked up many hobbies to keep themselves mentally and physically fit.

Bird watching is one of the activities which Nagpurians have taken very seriously during the last year, when Covid had hit the world. There are many groups, individuals, organisations, which are engaged in nature trails and bird watching in Nagpur. But people have different reasons for going bird watching and it differs from age to age and person to person.

Akash Jagtap, an IT professional who was not originally from Nagpur came here and started going for bird watching. As he explains, “The idea is to be one with nature, as it is all the more require to balance oneself and keep going. Due to pandemic there is not much to do and people are glued to their screens or laptops or hand helds. One needs to go out take fresh air and absorb nature. Nagpurians are truly privileged that they can afford to do this as there are many places around for people to go for bird watching and being one with nature, lot of other metros does not provide this liberty.”

Renuka Giradkar, an architure student and a budding nature photographer says, “We have grown up listening to the stories of crows and sparrows and animals, but have forgotten them as we grew up and got busy with our careers and other commitments. But the pandemic has made people realise that nature is the very essence of their existence and one should not try to tamper and disturb the ecological balance under the name of development. My idea for going to bird watching is find out more and more bird species and make others also aware of it and capture the beauty of nature in its best form.”

Another student of engineering, and avid bird watcher and ecological educator Chetan Pandey says, “I do bird watching as birds are the best biological indicators and they can give lot of learning about our surroundings, if we observe them. I do lot of behavioural analysis of the birds in the nature and surroundings and have learnt many things. Chetan said where there are filth and human waste you will generally find Black Kites roaming, which indicates the place is dirty. Common Kingfisher (Indian Roller) will always be found where water is not polluted and is fresh and Ph neutral mostly. Owls are helping to keep the population of rodents and lizards in check, as they feed on them, there by maintaining the ecological balance, else there would be catastrophe.”

Dr Abheek Ghosh, the founder of GroWill Foundation and environment crusader says, “There are around 370 recorded species of birds in Nagpur by different groups and bird watchers and nature lovers. Some birds are migratory and come for faraway places and from international destinations also. We are privileged that we have water bodies and places such as Ambazari backwaters, Bio-diversity park, Seminary Hills, Gorewada Lake, where one can find and spot plenty of birds and enjoy being with nature. Our endeavour through GroWill is to encourage more and more people to enjoy the beauty of nature and understand its importance.”