Based on the book 'Birds in Our Lives' (Orient Blackswan, 2007), a look at the cultural, economic, and other ways birds relate to humans, the threats to birds and efforts at conservation. Focused on India.

1. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the
flight!
chikikothari@gmail.com

2. BIRDS IN
OUR LIVES
Ashish Kothari

3. One of the world’s most
biodiverse regions….
1300+ species…
14% of world’s diversity, on 4% of its land
surface…
176 endemic species

4. Why such diversity?
• Elements of 3 of world’s
biogeographic regions:
Oriental, Palaearctic,
Afrotropical
• Habitat, Climatic Diversity

5. Terrestrial ecosystems…. deserts

6. Terrestrial ecosystems….
grasslands

7. Terrestrial ecosystems…forests

8. Terrestrial ecosystems…forests*

9. Terrestrial ecosystems…mountains

11. Aquatic ecosystems….freshwater

12. Aquatic ecosystems….freshwater

13. Aquatic ecosystems….marine

14. Human-dominated ecosystems

15. Urban wildlife….*

16. Birds in Culture
literature
sculpture
dance
music
language
art

17. Tribal, folk cultures….
Panchatantra, Jataka tales….*
Warli, Pithoda motifs

18. Religious systems…
Hoopoe as messenger
of Prophet
Solomon….Holy Quran
Peacock as mount of god of war
Kartikeya, vahana of goddess of
learning Saraswati…

19. Art, sculpture…
Mansur, C. 17/18th
Gond,
Bastar
Sanchi,
MP

20. Birds in economy
“birds can flourish without humans, but
humans cannot survive without birds”
(Salim Ali)

21. Birds can be harmful…
Crop damage, disease (avian
flu?), bird strikes…
But the benefits far outweigh these….

22. Pest control
2 rats a night….
A pair of titmice in a year, eat 120
million insect eggs, or 150,000
caterpillars/pupae*

24. Regeneration of valuable plants
Sandalwood, Ficus (fig), Silk cotton, Mulberry, Coral tree……..

25. Garbage/waste management

26. How do we know all this?
Ornithology through the ages….

27. Ancient ornithology
Community observations
Classical texts, e.g. Chandogya
Upanishad, 8-fold categorisation
of birds
Rulers through the ages….e.g.
Jehangir….”would have been happier
as the head of a natural history
museum…” (Salim Ali)
Homa Seb, Naga elder

28. Modern ornithology
19th
century beginnings….Gould,
Franklin, Sykes, Tickell, Hutton,
Jerdon, Blyth
Alan Octavian Hume
20th
century consolidation

29. Modern ornithology contd…
Thousands of professionals,
amateurs, NGOs,
institutions….dozens of field
guides….explosion of inventories,
e-discussions, newsletters,
workshops….

30. An ill wind blows….
Threats to Indian birds

31. Hunting, trade…
1970-76: 13 million birds exported!
450 species in trade before 1991 ban
370 species still illegally traded!

32. Habitat destruction

33. Habitat destruction contd…
>50% forests destroyed
>60% wetlands drained or polluted
>40% mangroves wiped out
Globalisation….10-fold increase in annual clearance
of projects

34. Toxins…
Pesticides….
Diclofenac and other pain-killers…

35. Threatened species
1979 1988 2005 2014
17 47 140 170

36. Already extinct…*

37. Rediscovered…

38. Want fame? Claim to have
rediscovered a bird….
Rory Nugent, adventurer, 1988
(after 29 days of paddling his canoe on India-
China-Myanmar border, saw):
“one of the fabled ducks among the multitude. As if
to confirm that I had just seen one of the most
elusive animals in nature, the jungle rimming the
banks came alive. Monkeys shrieked, big cats
roared, and land birds hooted. I lay back in the
boat, a smile on my face, finally satisfied that the
pink-headed duck was there, to be found for
anyone willing to search for it.”

39. Seriously endangered…

40. 1880s 1965 1984-
85
1992-
2000
Post-
2002
2000 200 41 5, 4, 2 0

41. The winds of change…
Conservation action*

42. Traditional protection
Kokkare Bellur, Karnataka
Kheechan, Rajasthan

43. Modern legal protection
1972 1986 2003
18 + hawks 49 + hawks 58+ hawks
Species in Schedule 1 of Wild Life Act
(completely protected across India)
Ban on all trade in Indian species: 1991

44. Formal protected areas
Chilika, Orissa
Corbett, Uttarakhand
Lankamalai,
Andhra Pradesh

45. Neglect of
social
aspects….
Backfires on
conservation
itself…

46. Periyar National Park, Kerala
Community dialogues, livelihood benefits, community-
based ecotourism

47. New community conserved areas
Khonoma Tragopan
Sanctuary, Nagaland
Mangalajodi, Orissa

48. Citizens’ action
Important Bird Areas (>460 sites)
Indian Bird Conservation Network

49. International action
Convention on Trade in Endangered Species
Migratory species convention (Bonn)
Wetlands convention (Ramsar)….25 sites by 2005

51. New research paradigms…
Liocichla bugunorum

52. What is needed…
• Partnerships and collaboration amongst govt,
NGOs, local communities
• Paradigm shifts in conservation research and
action….protected area management….site-
specific, participatory, integrating traditional and
modern knowledge
• Recognition to community conservation
initiatives
• Bringing the ethics and imperatives of
conservation centre-stage in development
priorities
• CITIZENS’ ACTION!

53. Thanks to….
Organisers of NatureQuest
Publishers: Universities Press / Orient Longman
Pix: Ramana Athreya, Pallava Bagla, Rajat Bhargava,
Bharat Bhushan, Ashok Captain, Raghu Chundawat, Ajay
Desai, Clement Francis, R.K. Gaur, Joanna van Gruisen,
Jean Howman-WPA, Girish Jathar, Ashish Kothari,
Sujatha Padmanabhan, Vibhu Prakash, Asad Rahmani,
Nitin Rai, Vijay Mohan Raj, Sunita Rao, Ravi Sankaran,
Pankaj Sekhsaria, Krupakar Senani, Rajpal Singh, Farhad
Vania, Mahendra Vyas, Shimpei Watanabe
Illustrations: Madhuvanthi Anantharajan, Bindia Thapar

54. Hope you enjoyed the flight!
chikikothari@gmail.com
Based on the book ‘Birds in Our Lives’ (Orient
Blackswan, 2007) by Ashish Kothari