It all started with a morning walk..!

Like most good things in life, this too started on a morning walk. A morning jog actually, to be precise.

Almost ten years ago, while living in the same neighborhood, I realized one morning that I could identify 10 different kinds of birds. This was a casual observation while jogging and with naked eyes. No cameras, no binoculars.

This set me thinking. If one could observe 10 species so nonchalantly, without any preparation, how many could one discover with a little more concerted effort. Moreover, while the crows and mynas were ubiquitous, which were the other winged wonders hiding in plain sight?

Hiding in Plain Sight

And that really became the idée centrale for this project: Birds hiding in plain sight. Except of course it is not the birds that are hiding, it is us that live with our eyes wide shut.

For most of us who live in crowded urban neighborhoods, a bird is our most common and ubiquitous neighbor - be it a chattering myna, a cawing crow, a coquettish bulbul, a soaring kite or indeed in much of North India, a prancing peacock. Just that we don't pay much attention to them. Barring some kindred souls putting out grain or water on their balconies or terraces, by and large, we remain utterly oblivious to the sights and sounds of our winged neighbors. Or expect them only when we venture into verdant green spaces like parks, zoos or sanctuaries.

Birds are however our true neighbors, occupying and often sharing the same ecological space as we do. This is true for Delhi, which has the well deserved reputation for being one of the most bird-rich capitals of the world [457 recorded species - for details please see this Checklist of Delhi Birds]. This is truer still for Chanakyapuri, the leafy, less crowded heart of New Delhi which is co-located with the Delhi ridge - Delhi’s green belt. But take any urban landscape, and you’ll find a wide variety of birds, some very urban and comfortable among buildings and humans, yet others thriving in the green peripheries, flying overhead or flitting around on trees.

I ended up opening a new vista for myself, pursuant to that morning jog dream. I wish the same for more of us urban citizens. We’ll be the ones better off for it. We cannot of course all become birders, neither is it necessary. All that is needed is for us to open our eyes and ears to our avian friends. The birds, they don’t mind a little more attention. But from afar of course.

Don’t forget social distancing with your winged neighbors!