This book has been written to facilitate ease of identification of birds in the field, while enriching identifications with mythology, tales and trivia that help the bird come alive in the eyes of the viewer. The English name and species are listed, together with the Hindi or the most common colloquial name, as well as the Sanskrit name where available.
To facilitate ease of identification, particularly for a new birder, the birds have been grouped first by the most predominant colour of that bird, and within each colour group, by size, from the smallest to the largest. So, for example, if you see a black bird that is not too large, tum to the 'black tab' section of the book, look towards the middle, and you should find your bird!
The bird is accurately represented by a photograph, and the mythology, tales and trivia are richly Illustrated by hand.
Within each colour, we have the birds organized from the smallest to the largest, each having the following sub-heads: Description; Habits; Call; Mythology, Tales & Trivia.
I grew up in a bungalow in Lodhi Estate, with a large garden, surrounded by old trees - ideal bird habitat! My grandparents would periodically visit us from Jabalpur, and my grandfather would walk the garden with me pointing out shrikes creating insect larders in the shrubbery, placing a sheet of cardboard on a defunct light and attracting doves to nest on it, and sharing spell-binding tales of keeping a Sarus as a pet, and a Racquet-tailed Drongo that could whistle the whole reveille! So, my journey as a birder started young, with my paternal grandfather, K.N. Dave, being this magical personality who knew so much about birds and flowers! He went on to write his acclaimed study, Birds in Sanskrit Literature, which, till today, is deemed to be the definitive work in this field. I also inherited his fascinating library of bird books, written by erudite ornithologists who had roamed our forests since the 1800s.
My father, A.K. Dave, furthered this interest by taking us out every Sunday, with a packed picnic lunch, to areas surrounding Delhi, where the highlights were the birds that he would point out to us-our own private birding family gang of my mother Smita Dave, my sister Amrita, my brother Uttam, and me!
My journey continues, with my husband, Himanshu Jani, who has been my keystone - always up for a birding trip no matter how tough, and who has been my sounding board through the writing of this book; my children, Vedika and Rushali - companions in all my adventures; my sons-in-law Aditya and Gaurang, always interested in our tales; my brother Uttam - the eager explorer; and the Mehta and Dave families who have been my backbone and cheered for me every step of the way!
Another key figure for me while I was still very young was Dr Salim Ali, whose book on Indian birds had an index by predominant feature or colour, which was a thought that stayed with me, and that I have now used, in an even simpler way, for this book. I wrote to him twice, at the tender age of 12, with some bird enquires, and he was kind enough to reply, which fuelled my passion further!
Birding trips expanded when Nikhil Devasar re-energized the Delhi Bird group, which Bikram Garewal had Initially started, and soon my dear friend Jasjit Mansingh and I were regulars again. Nikhil has stayed a dear friend, mentor and guide, and my birding journey has been enriched by wonderful friends who have made each birding trip so special - Ankit Vohra, Anita Mani, Drs Rajiv and Mona Khanna, Kavi Nanda, Neelam & Satish Khosla, Pia Sethi, Pragya Taneja, Rajat and Jyotsna Sethi, Sheila Chhabra, Sanjay Tiwari, Suneeta Sharma, Satie Sharma:
knowledgeable and caring bird guides Arka Sarkar, Chandramouli Ganguly, Rakesh Ahlawat and Rattan Singh; Ruvina and Ramindar Singh who encouraged me when I struggled, and the warm, wonderful and encyclopaedic Lavkumar Khachar.
This book came about after some non-birder friends wanted to get initiated into birding, and were looking for a way to do that more easily. At the same time, I was reading my grandfather's book about birds in our scriptures, as well as tales of yore told by the knowledgeable birders of the 1800s, and wishing that some of those stories could be read more widely. The lockdown created the mind-flash about writing this book, with birds grouped by colour and size, and enriched with tales and mythology!
The mythology has been drawn from my grandfather's knowledge and writings from our scriptures. He Identified birds in our scriptures, with tales starting from the Rigveda, which mainly concerned itself with the mystic Soma cult, to the Atharvaveda and its mentions of birds of prey, the Samhitas of the Yajurveda (1000 scx), when the Indo-Aryans had become familiar with a lot more birds and were beginning to teach them to repeat human words; the Yajus Samhita and its mention of about 60 birds while reciting the verses about horse sacrifice; and the Puranas and other books describing the practice of divination from the ways and movements of birds and animals. I have tried to bring these tales to life.
I hope this book ignites the passion for birding in new birders, and provides enriched reading for experienced birders tool.
In a democracy such as ours, nature conservation can only succeed if the upper echelons in power desire it and, more importantly, if the people themselves demand it. Currently, we remain mega-mammal-centric and go to national parks mainly to see lions, tigers, elephants and rhino, missing out on the colourful chirping birds, the scents and sounds of the wilderness itself, and on communion with nature.
The true purpose of wildlife literature is twofold: to enhance knowledge and to advance an empathy for nature. Scientists from Stuart Baker to Salim Ali have written comprehensive technical treatises on the birds of India. But we need to popularize birds with the common man to win converts to the cause of nature conservation. We need layman 'wildlifers' to identify birds by their song, size and colour, to understand, appreciate and admire them.
Jayantika Dave has done nature conservation a favour by writing this volume. She has covered 250 of our most common and captivating birds, enriched with personal observations of their habits and behaviour. For ease of Identification, she has grouped birds by their predominant colour and by size, reducing the struggle that beginners have with scientific names and classifications.
She has covered a very diverse cross-section of both resident and migratory birds, from the Paradise Flycatcher to Pelicans, from Cranes to the Cormorants, and covered birds that require special attention to save them from extinction - the Great Indian Bustard, the lesser florican, and others.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did.
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