White-Rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

We all at some point in our life are fascinated with birds. During our childhood days, our adulthood or old age. Birds are found in different shape, size and colour. Birds are in true sense a gift of Mother Nature to us. Birds are a very special life form on earth as these winged creatures are capable of flying, running and even some can swim. Not all birds can fly like kiwi, ostrich. In many birds male and female birds of same species are of different colour this is called sexual dimorphism. Usually males are more beautiful and females are little dull in colour. This helps the female in choosing the best male for mating while their dull colour protects them from their enemies while they lay their eggs on the nest.

Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja)

There are over 1500 species of birds found in India and more than 600 are recorded in Corbett region. Some of them are resident birds while some are migratory. Due to the geographical location of Corbett one can see summer and winter visitor birds in Corbett. Some birds do local migration while some birds come from other countries mainly ducks which come to this region during winters. Birds are found in different types of habitats. They live in water bodies, swamps, grasslands, riverbeds, dense forests and scrub forests.

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

Today many tourists visit places to see birds only. Uttarakhand with its rich wildlife is always a favourite destination for nature and wildlife lovers. But unfortunately we are not yet successful to attract more tourists from this segment. After religious tourism it is wildlife tourism which can earn handsome revenue to the state and can also generate employment for local unemployed youth. Government along private partners should work on strategies so that we can bring wildlife tourists to our state. We need to highlight other fauna like birds found in our forests and should organize bird watching or census programme on regular basis. It will not only attract birders but we will also be able to understand about their population etc.

Red-Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)

Birds not only look beautiful but are very important for us. They play an important role in the ecosystem. They control the insects and other animals number. They are a very good pest controller as well as they also help in regeneration of forest through seed dispersal. They disperse seeds from one place to another and that is how trees of different species grow at different places. Some birds are fruit eating, some are insect eater some birds are carnivores (raptors) while some are scavengers. All these birds do various important tasks in the nature, some control the insects’ numbers while some take seeds of trees to other place. Some kills rats, snakes while some clean our environment by eating dead animals.

When one is doing bird watching there are many things one can note like their size, colour, special feature like, beak, legs, behaviour, place and time where the bird was seen. Few things are necessary for watching birds like a pair of binoculars, a field guide book about birds, a note pad and a pen or a pencil. At first one can start this as a hobby but after some experience and tips from experienced person anybody can become a good bird watcher. Great degree of patience is required for this.

In Corbett Tiger Reserve many species of raptors, kingfishers, woodpeckers, flycatchers, parakeets, drongos, orioles, sunbirds, owls, bulbuls, laughing thrush are found.

“Tiger is giving us dodge”, declares wildlife guide Hem Bahuguna, calling a halt near some tell-tale pug marks (pawprints) and scrapings. As the engine cools, then stills, we hear only the birds, the soft breeze and the distant chattering of monkeys. From time to time, another jeep materialises, stopping to exchange a few words. Otherwise, here in India, most crowded of nations, there is perfect peace.

Corbett is India’s first, perhaps finest, Tiger Reserve and is buffered by surrounding tracts of country. You can spend days chasing tigers or cast a line to tempt the golden mahseer. The Ramganga Reservoir provides year-round water for the animals and spawning grounds for the golden mahseer, which migrates upstream.

Tall stands of teak, with its strikingly wide leaves, and the equally imposing sal clothe the hillsides, and wide gravel river beds traverse expanses of waving grass. Gharial, the snouted crocodile, coexist alongside the mugger crocodile and the otter. Sambar, chital or spotted deer and the solitary muntjac or barking deer are all readily spotted, especially when browsing in the grasslands. Less visible, the wild boar, sloth bear and tiger all record their passing with spoor – paw prints and droppings.

The eco-friendly Vanghat River Lodge in the Corbett Tiger Reserve

Panthers, although endangered, continue to be sighted in the hill country – but, Bahuguna admits gloomily, Indian authorities have recently confiscated quantities of contraband skins.

Macaques or rhesus monkeys, the males’ buttocks comically inflamed during the present mating season, together with the larger langurs, enliven otherwise still forests.

At least, 500 of India’s 1,300 known bird species are recorded at Corbett: a hoopoe browses boldly; a lone rose-winged parakeet stands out against bare boughs.

Bahaguna has set up a pre-dawn rendezvous at Amdanda Gate, outside the town of Ramnagar. A pallid pink orb begins to burn through the mists which rise above forest and grassland as the jeep reaches Bijrani camp, where day-visitor facilities operate.

By noon, we have jolted across innumerable gravel river beds, wound up into the dappled shade of sal forest and back down again, and climbed a watchtower on the edge of a broad river valley. We have examined the bark torn and chewed by elephants, noting the bushes trampled by these huge and demanding creatures. Tiger pug marks and droppings beside the track indicate the age and health of the animal.

Tigers often prove elusive, but park director Rajiv Bhartari will explain why this is no cause for concern. At Corbett, an estimated 143 tigers range across 1,218 square kilometres of rugged terrain. This population density is considerably lower – and therefore healthier – than at some of the better-known reserves in western India.

Scientists are conducting a tiger census, and the numbers are coming in well above expectations.

Villagers in the community established by celebrated tiger hunter Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett, author of the best-selling Man-Eaters of Kumaon, became a larger-than-life figure in the Himalayan hill country before World War II. The British hunter tracked down and killed 50 man-eating tigers and more than 250 leopards which had terrorised local villagers, but believed that a taste for human flesh was developed only by ageing or wounded tigers. His concern for the tiger’s survival led to the reservation of what would become today’s Corbett National Park: the starting point in 1973 for the groundbreaking Project Tiger.

The hill people of Kumaon remember Jim Corbett not only by the reservations which bear his name, but for his dedication to the welfare of his tenant farmers for whom he created a model village at Kaladhungi. Choti Haldwani, Corbett’s bungalow where the life-long bachelor lived with his sister Maggie, has been preserved as a museum, whilst a walking trail meanders through the mustard seed and sugar canefields of his former estate.

Known as “the pelican” Harak Singh was a genius with his knowledge of birds. Birdwatching series particularly from U.K. were promoted by his name in the Seventies and eighties. Even the late Rajiv Gandhi would keenly participate in the birdwalks led by Harak Singh in the Dhikala chaur (grassland) as many other state guests. The last few years of service was spent as an instructor at the Kalagarh Training Institute. Far from the hustle and bustle Harak Sing Aswal now leads a retired life in the Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand.

Koustubh had a keen interest in wildlife since school days and the city of Bhopal, where he grew, provided ample opportunities to nurture his interests in bird watching and wildlife. Academically inclined towards mathematical sciences, he did his Masters in Physics from the University of Bhopal. It was during this period that he also conducted a small study on the avian fauna of Bhopal, and developed his first stand-alone software to help identify birds. This led to his association with BNHS where he later joined as a Research Analyst. Koustubh carried out extensive field research for four years in Panna National Park on Ecology, Distribution and Behaviour of the rare Four-horned antelope and obtained his PhD from the Mumbai University.

To know more about Koustubh’s conservation work please log on to www.snowleopard.org or www.ncf-india.org.