Scientific Name: Leiopicus mahrattensis
Size: 18cm

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (male)

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (male)

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (male)

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (female)

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (female)

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (female)

Scientific Name: Accipiter badius
Size: 35cm

Scientific Name: Culicicapa ceylonensis
Size: 9cm

Scientific Name: Prinia socialis
Size: 13cm

Route: This route starts at the main gate and goes towards the staff quarters in a route parallel to the main barricade road, but inside campus. Turning around the residences and passing Hostel-2, you head behind the offices and labs in IB-1 and IB-3 and into the back of the canteen. You then head right towards the extreme end (diagonally opposite from the main gate) which is a good spot for birds. Then, you retrace your path a little, head towards the basketball court and turn towards the front of IB-3. From here you follow the road to the MRI building and turn to follow the path back to the main gate.

Attractions: A simple 1.5km walk that takes you along the contours of the institute while keeping you within the confines of familiar environment. The path lets you peek into the jungle from a distance, and also lets you take in the variety of trees and bushes on campus that attracts a large range of birds. The dense foliage in front of IB-3 attracts many bulbuls, redstarts, barbets, red-wattled lapwing, doves, green pigeons, parakeets, baya weavers and many more.

Route: This route starts at the main gate and goes via a clear path through the heart of the jungle to a little pond. Moving out onto the road, you cross a long drain with a small marsh on either side that is another great spot for birds. You then cut back into the jungle, head to the pond near NBRC and finally follow the path to reappear just behind Monu's shop and back at the main gate again!

Attractions: A wonderful 1.6km walk that maximizes your chances of spotting water birds and gives you a view of the jungle as well. This trail covers three main water-body spots that are great locations for birds to quench their thirst and cool off in the summer heat. The two ponds that you cross on this trail gives you the opportunity to see birds like the black-winged stilt, sandpipers, white-breasted waterhen and common moorhens. The drain is great for warblers, blue throats and other small birds as well.

Route: This route begins at the main gate and goes from inside NBRC, past the basketball court, over the fence and into the strawberry fields behind. Following the track leads you to the mustard and corn fields. A left at a crossroad takes you into the nearby town of Nainwal, past the houses and into the fields behind. Finally the route circles back to the main Nainwal road that returns to the NBRC barricade. The final stretch is the barricade road that takes you back to the main gate again!

Attractions: A long walk (took me about 2 hours with many birding stops) of 4.0km. Gives you a glimpse of the houses and fields of Nainwal and the chance to see moorhens, stilts, prinias, babblers, robins and a whole host of other birds.

Route: This route starts at the main gate and goes up to the barricade. On the return, a small chink in the barbed-wire fencing gives you an opportunity to take a shorter route back, through the jungle. There is a clear path to follow, keeping the barricade route to your right, before you reappear just behind Monu's shop and back at the main gate again!

Attractions: A quick walk (took me 12 minutes at a leisurely pace) of 1.2km. The walk to the barricade in itself gives you wonderful sightings of birds such as the Indian Robin, Magpie Robin, Babblers, Sunbirds etc. This route is extremely simple and is a sure shot way of spotting birds. Spend an hour sitting at the shop, and I guarantee spotting atleast 15 different birds! The return journey gives you a glimpse of the forest and the chance to see some introverted birds and nilgai too!

Route: This route starts at the main gate and turns left at the second bridge, along the slope and into the jungle through a small chink in the barbed-wire fencing. The circuitous route takes you along the borders of the jungle, parallel to the main highway and back to the bridge. Instead of climbing back up onto the barricade road, you pass under the bridge and into the jungle on the other side, following which you follow clear paths until you reappear just behind Monu's shop and back at the main gate again!

Attractions: A slightly arduous walk of 2.0km that lets you explore the jungles on either side of the barricade road. The main jungle explored (to the left) has been a consistent home to the bay-backed shrike! Birds that have also been spotted here include the red turtle dove, spotted owlet, oriental honey buzzard, yellow-footed green pigeons, white-browed fantail and the regular birds such as the Indian robin, green bee-eaters etc.

Early Bird, one of the projects of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) of India, is involved in getting young people interested in and excited about birds, by creating high-quality print and online material that can be used as useful birding resources. Although the material is aimed at children, I am using it to target people who are "young" at birding!

In November 2015, I bought a set of flashcards containing high quality bird photographs with information about the bird and its behaviour, its call, etc. I also bought an easy-to-carry field-guide poster on 135 common birds of the Indian peninsula. The two were promptly delivered at my doorstep and have proved to be a valuable and attractive way to get people's attention, start a conversation or identify a bird seen recently. Definitely great value for money...

Flash Cards of Common Birds of India

Pocket Guide of Birds of Peninsular India

The following books are filled with wonderful information about birds of the Indian subcontinent and serve as great reference guides to identify and learn about birds.

Birding Guides

• Birds of India by Kryz Kazmierczak, Om Field Guides
• A Photographic Guide to Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Bill Harvey and Otto Pfister
• Birds of India by Norman Arlott, Collins Field Guide, 2015 edition
• A Pictorial Field Guide to Birds of India by Bikram Grewal, Sumit Sen, Sarwandeep Singh, Nikhil Devasar and Garima Bhatia, Om Books International, 2016 edition.

Latest addition!

A friend of mine bought two bird feeders from Nature Forever in February 2015. They were simple to setup and we hung them at "strategic" locations in the NBRC campus. We filled it with broken uncooked rice first, and then also with bajra seeds. The food was popular with the birds (from earlier experiences), but the birds struggled to land at the feeder and use the openings to access the food. This plan didn't seem to take off with the birds unfortunately, but I am considering giving it another go.

Bird Feeder filled with broken uncooked rice

A curious Lesser Whitethroat at the feeder

Jungle Babblers eating in turn

An opportunistic squirrel!

I have been very fortunate to have had friends who shared my interest in birding as a hobby. From PhD students to summer interns, these are the people who have accompanied me on numerous birding trips, explored new trails, listened to bird calls and shared the same excitement on spotting a bird as I did! 

A good part of the encouragement to make this blog also stems from this group. All of them have contributed to my wonderful birding experiences and I am thankful for the everlasting memories.

Radhika Rajan

Sreeparna Pradhan

Kautuk Kamboj

Raghav Shankar

Others I have gone birding with on a few occasions:

Richard Edden

Shammi More, Suvarnalata XD and Sumiti Saharan

A gift to my mother found its way back to me in September 2006 as she felt I would put it to better use. The digital camera would go on to become an extension of my hand, and photography a lifelong hobby!

My first digital camera - Nikon Coolpix L1

The Nikon Coolpix L1 takes good stills and is particularly good at macro photos.

The Coolpix L1 is, however, not best suited for bird photography. It has a slow shutter which makes it difficult to shoot moving objects. The low 5x zoom (which was high for a point-and-shoot digicam about 10 years back!) also prevents clear viewing of birds at a moderate distance. The camera was soon upstaged in the tech market by sleeker models boasting higher zoom with better resolution, but I decided to stick it out with the L1.

The sudden access to taking a large number of photos without the worry of spending for a film encouraged me to use the camera to take all kinds of photos, including those of birds near home in Bangalore. I realized I enjoyed photography and I stuck to it as a hobby through my Master's degree at the University of Sussex, England, and towards the beginning of my research career at the National Brain Research Centre in Manesar, Haryana, India.

After 3 years at NBRC and getting a feel for the rich biodiversity of the place, I decided to invest in a new camera. My continued interest in birds and insects, animals and nature demanded the use of multiple lenses with a DSLR which I could not afford at the time (and probably still can't!)

So in November 2013, I decided to invest in an "all-purpose" point-and-shoot digicam, the Canon Powershot SX50 HS.

Canon Powershot SX50 HS

Canon Powershot SX50 HS

With a 24-1200mm range (50x zoom) the camera is great at bringing subjects at a wide range of distances into focus. The camera has very impressive image stabilization, a sharp sensor and colorful display. It seemed like the best buy in the market when I bought it, but even this camera was soon upstaged in the tech market, by Canon themselves! The Powershot SX60HS with 65x zoom and a few extra features! But again, I decided to stick it out with the SX50 and have no regrets.

All of the bird photos posted on this blog were taken using the Canon Powershot SX50 HS...

Note: I have also tried other point-and-shoot digital cameras such as the Nikon Coolpix L810 (26x zoom) and the Canon Powershot SX60 HS (65x zoom). The Canon clearly outperforms the Nikon with respect to zoom, image stabilization, auto-focus and color display .