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Wildbuzz: A beacon in the bleakness
Millions of birds die globally by crashing into windows, especially in glittering cities protruding into the skies like sore thumbs
Patram Sharma lays no claim to a cultivated interest in bird watching. All he knew were pahari names of common birds and snatches of conversation the affable general-store owner overheard while serving tea and snacks to photographers from the tricity touring the birding hotspot of Chakki Modh in the Solan hills. But beneath Patram’s mofussil modesty, an infectious toothy grin and a balding visage lay a heart of gold.
Two birds had died while pecking and banging their heads at the reflective glass windows Patram recently installed in his residential quarters constructed above the store. The razzle-dazzle of the glass was quite a novelty in Patram’s modest neighbourhood. As horrified birders watched, an Indian Golden oriole would go hammer and tongs at the windows, hell-bent on ending up in a sad, crumpled sheaf of feathers in the drain below.
A concerned birder, Jatinder Vijh of Chandigarh, was having his customary tea at Patram’s last month. Vijh gently suggested to Patram that he should somehow discard the vanity of his flashy windows and save the suicidal oriole. “Birds peck at windows ferociously mistaking their reflection for a rival bird’s presence in the area during breeding season. Covid curfews kicked in and I could not visit his shop for a month. I got a Covid e-pass and reached his shop last week. Patram had nailed curtains from the outside and covered the windows. The oriole had stopped pecking at the windows, had calmed down and was at a nearby nest. Patram developed an interest in birds and photographed the Indian paradise flycatcher and Asian barred owlet with his cellphone during the April-May lockdown. Birds have begun to excite his curiosity, he engages us passionately and is eager to learn their English names,” an elated Vijh told this writer.
It was by no means an easy decision, a ‘charity of convenience’ for Patram to veil his windows from the outside and disfigure the architectural aesthetics. The windows were installed to lend privacy to his family as the reflective surfaces were limited to a one-way view. “My new residential quarters are on the main road, so privacy is an issue. The builder recommended the windows and they cost ₹12,000 for six sheets. But birds started dying and Vijh planted the seed of understanding and compassion in me. I was troubled and cast my thoughts into the future: here I was building a house and if deaths (of birds) occur at the start, it would not be a good omen for my family,” Patram told this writer.
Patram’s benevolence for birds can partially be traced to sub-conscious influences exerted by traditional pahari cultures. He vaguely remembers the grannies putting out grains and water for small birds that expressed an accommodation of creatures in human lives. Shopkeepers around him still allow barn and wire-tailed swallows unfettered access to their buildings as they feel a nest serves as a good omen. Grateful swallows construct pot-shaped nests of scraped mud clinging to ceiling corners in shops, where their chicks remain relatively safer.
However, environment-friendly structures and cultures of the Himalayas are unravelling at the seams due to allurements such as cement, air-tight buildings and reflective glass. Canny builders hard sell such glitzy, ultra-modern lifestyle choices to the simple, hardy folk.
Millions of birds die globally by crashing into windows, especially in glittering cities protruding into the skies like sore thumbs. Various measures (via a Google search) can be adopted by householders —at some sacrifice to their comfort, purse and lifestyle dazzle — to remedy gardens and windows to more bird-friendly modes. The simple, benevolent soul of Patram shines in the hills above us like a beacon of inspiration.
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