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Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010Bird Watchingup their families. The villagersmen,women and children treatthem with love and respect. Thereis an unwritten law that the birdsshould on no account bedisturbed. There areheartwarming stories of simplevillage people saving young birdsthat fall from the nests andlooking after them till they arestrong enough to fly. The villagershappily make adjustments in theirdaily lives in order not to disturbtheir winged guests in any way.So no loudspeakers, drums andother percussion instrumentsassociated with temple festivalsare permitted while the birds arearound which is for severalmonths in a year. For the lastfifteen years or so the area aroundKoothamkulam is protected as abird sanctuary by the Tamilnadugovernment. Each year more thana lakh of birds of 249 species visitthis haven of love following theirannual migratory pattern.Now for there is a different kindof story, of an adventure in habitatrenewal which took place in aresidential school ‘Rishi Valley’which was established overseventy years ago by thephilosopher J.Krishnamurthi inChittor district, Andhra Pradesh.One can call the story “the returnof the birds”.The school campus is now averitable grove of thousands oftrees of all kinds. This grove is setamid hills of almost barren rocksof odd shapes lending the valleyan awesome charm. Today onenotices one of the adjoining hillsis all greener than the rest. This iswhat the story is all about. In thecentre of the school campusstands an enormous banyan treediscovered by the founder duringone of his walks in the area. Thetree since he discovered it, hasput down hundreds of roots andthrows its shade all around. Yearsand years ago there was noshortage of greenery and thesurrounding hills had been full ofvegetation and had naturallybeen home to several differentkinds of animals and birds. Overthe years dry weather and humanand cattle invasion have reducedthe once green scene to scatteredshrubbery; the animals and birdshave all but disappeared from thescene.In 1980 over hundred acres of thehills adjoining the school campuswere leased to Rishi Valley schoolfor reforestation, a formidable taskin the bare waterless territory.This was a challenge and theschool accepted it. No time waswasted and the entire school, thestudents and teachers and staffall alike came forwardenthusiastically to bring the lostgreenery back. Pits were dug,thousands of seeds were planted,nurseries for saplings werecreated and water wastransported to the area from wellsfar away. Almost twenty thousandtrees and shrubs were plantedover several months. Graduallyand as years passed naturestarted smiling again and theonce stark hillside was coveredwith greenery. The increasingmoisture, algae, fungi, trees andshrubs were all quietly preparinghospitable places for insects,animals and birds. Slowly butsteadily birds returned to thevalley. There are about 170 speciesof birds now in the area, whichinclude dryland birds like theIndian robin and the bulbul,scrubland birds like warblers andsunbirds, woodland birds paradixfly catchers, myna, woodpeckersand magpie robins and wetlandbirds like dabchicks and herons.The students of the school thrivein their closeness to nature andare enthusiastic birdwatchers.They are being ably guided bysome of their masters who arewell known names in the worldof ornithology.From time immemorial thesefragile creatures of the sky haveenchanted people, with theirbeauty, song and colour. Theancient Egyptian drew them onthe walls of their tombs, India’shoary literature is replete withreferences to birds. Today thanksto the Salim Alis of the world, thebird is not only a subject of studyand analysis, but is loved andcherished as a thing of beautyand a joy forever.[I am indebted to the book The birds ofRishi valley for some of the details givenabove.]~ Lalitha Menon27
Animal Crusaders • Commemorative Issue • October 2010Bird WatchingNATURALURBANYou can know the name of a birdin all the languages of the world,but when you’re finished, you’llknow absolutely nothing whateverabout the bird... So let’s look at thebird and see what it’s doing —that’s what counts. I learned veryearly the difference betweenknowing the name of somethingand knowing something.28
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