Giving wings to the common Indian birds

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for letter…" Remember the little chorus almost all of us indulged in as school kids whenever we saw mynah flocks? Along with those lines, we seem to have forgotten the mynahs too. Nivedita Khandekar reports.

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for letter…" Remember the little chorus almost all of us indulged in as school kids whenever we saw mynah flocks? Along with those lines, we seem to have forgotten the mynahs too.

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But here's your chance to contribute to monitoring and mapping of the mynah and other such common Indian birds.

On the occasion of World Environment Day on Tuesday, the Nature Forever Society (NFS) - in collaboration with various NGOs - is launching an innovative environment campaign called 'Bird of the Month' to raise awareness about 18 common bird species found across India.

Labelled as a project by the people, for the people and of the people, this programme (www.cbmi.in) encourages public participation for monitoring, counting and conserving these 18 common birds, which include the house sparrow, house crow, rock pigeon, rose-ringed parakeet, mynah and the lesser known ashy prinia and hoopoe.

Currently there is no scientific data on even the commonest of bird species in the country. "The project will help fill this critical gap and generate interesting data. The knowledge about the status, population and distribution of common birds will help in timely conservation measures to save these birds from extinction," said Mohammed Dilawar, founder-president of NFS.

All that Delhiites - and other people in their respective cities/towns - have to do is watch out for one of the 18 common birds for about 15 minutes near their homes or offices and enter the data on the website.

"This is not as hard as it may seem. Delhiites can keep water bowls at the windows of their homes or offices and regularly monitor the birds, like I do," said Vijayata Gupta, a city-based animal and bird activist.