Birds, Delhi and Me #1: JNU
Posted by Prashanth | Filed under Birdwatching, It's My Life, New Delhi, Photography
Delhi, as many of you readers might know is literally the capital city for birds. After Nairobi, Kenya, Delhi has the maximum avian diversity seen anywhere else on the planet beating even the Amazon and African Rainforests…
Just to keep a check on how diverse this place still is, Delhibird, a bird-watchers/enthusiast community holds a huge event called BBD or the Big Birder’s Day. On this day, several groups consisting of Delhibird Members split to move around and identify as many species of birds as possible. Delhi does have quite a few birding hotspots, as I previously once shared in an old post.
Since I had my Mathematics Annual Exam the next day, there was no way Mom was gonna allow me to spend my whole day with Delhi Birds South Delhi Team which aimed to survey JNU, Aravalli Bio-diversity Park and Hauz Khas Lake.
With lots of efforts, satyagrahas, movements, petitions and revolts which somewhat recapped the entire Indian freedom struggle, I finally got myself destined to go there. Very few readers might know this fact, but JNU, which stands for Jawaharlal Nehru University is one of the best birdwatching trails in the capital. It is not only huge, (nearly a 1000 acres) but also largely untouched. Nearly 70% of the campus is pristene scrub/bush land and is a home to a variety of Passerines, which is a fancy word for tree and bush homing birds that can perch. Not just birds, you also have a lot of animal life there. Speaking of birds, in and around JNU, there is a decent population of human ones as well. Take for instance the one in the left sidebar… Thanks to the punishment offered by the Indian Govt. year after year in the form of the Bored Exams, the specimen of the species Singletaskerus Umas DID NOT come for the morning walk. Elaborate rants on human birds will continue later!
Before I start off with the itenary, a few small facts about Delhi and its geography. Delhi lies on a seismically active zone and has a prominent but broken ridge formed due to tectonic activities running through it. It is these ridges which finally grew into the fold mountains by the name Aravalli Range. Due to safety and environment related concerns, development around the ridge area is minimized. It turns out that a large portion of the ridge run through the JNU campus making JNU a lovely habitat for a variety of life…
As Uma puts it, ‘The professors at JNU are the luckiest in the world to live in the middle of a forest that too in the middle of a city’. Although I had been to JNU before, never had I come there specifically on a birding trail that too with a group of experienced folks whom I recently got acquainted with… JNU is always teaming with some kind of activity or life… Like for instance, on the day when I went birding, which was the 24th of Feb, an event on open source software called Freed.in was also simultaneously taking place. I would have loved to attend it but then several constraints pushed me back. Anyway, I did catch up with one guy whom I bugged and got the contacts.
Coming back to the trip…
Our group was being led by Dr. Surya Prakash, a Professor in Zoology based in JNU. He is a very experienced birdwatcher who knows JNU as well as one might know his own home. Being close to nature and associated with Delhibirds for such a long time, he was the right man to guide us through the campus trail. Along with me were quite a few more bird enthusiasts with the youngest one being around 3 years old. I took along with me a Fujifilm S5600, borrowed from my good friend, Varun Mishra just to honour the BBD. Although I spent most of my time with the camera in a learning curve to get just the right setting for the scene.
We started our birding trail from the Life Sciences Dept. Parking lot at approximately 6:42 AM. These people got delayed because of me… apologies! Anyway, before even I could apologize, I was ‘punished’ with the responsibility of managing the ticklist of all the birds seen. From here onwards, as and when a new bird was seen, yells calling “Prashanth! A Lesser Whitethroat is here…” would also be heard. Before we stepped out of the parking lot, one of us spotted a Nilgai sitting inconspicuously in a thicket. With me still figuring out the right settings for a misty, low light condition couldn’t do justice to the majestic creature. Anyway, not long after we spotted a bunch of Rose-Ringed and Alexandrian Parakeets, two of the most common species of Parakeets in this part of India. As we were in a fairly dry scrubland, Passerines were in a plenty in the form of Warblers, Shrikes, Robins, Sunbirds, Babblers, Bulbuls and Prinias among several others.
With me still figuring out the right settings, shots of those quick moving tree birds came horribly bad. Something you can expect with a fairly high ISO setting (600) and a high shutter speed (1200) that too in low lit conditions. Anyway, I was more interested in getting a good view of those birds with my binoculars which gave a me a clearer view and mix up and socialize with others in the group as well.
We then headed out into the bush to find another Nilgai, whose eyes looked as if it was really unusual for it to see a bunch of strange creatures known as humans each of which was in different colours coming often into its territory. Catching some of the most beautiful sights one might possibly find in Delhi and breathing the freshest lungful of air I had inhaled in several months, I was having a lovely time with all these people. It clearly reminded me of walks with all those people from BSAP (Birdwatcher’s Society of Andhra Pradesh) with whom I once used to go regularly on trails to quite a few places in and around Hyderabad.
We reached one of the three check-dams constructed in the campus. This one was said to be filled with water almost throughout the year. Although the water was stagnant, a few waders did call it their home. Black Winged Stilts, Purple Moorhens, Spotbilled Ducks, White Breasted Kingfishers, and the rare sight, a Green Sandpiper which Dr. Surya Prakash found just by hearing its distinct call.Going through the wooded area, we reached to a fairly open grassy meadow which Dr. Surya Prakash said was Raptor country. Disappointingly though, we saw nothing more than the omnipresent Black Kites and the fairly common although still hard to catch Black-Shouldered Kite. But this was more than compensated by the sight of the day… Rosefinches! They were far enough only for my binoculars to take view. Just then, trial and error finally got me the right settings. But then it was too late, the Finches had evaded my camera!
We then headed to a place about which I heard from quite a few people… The Parthasarathy Rock. Thats a vantage point from where a large portion of the JNU wilderness can be seen. A lovely spot to find flying raptors. Sadly though, evidences there show how much the students booze and fool around in that place. You had liquor bottles, cigarette packets, fire ash and a lot more killing the so-called cleanliness of the place. Check the panorama below to see how the place looks like from there… Click to see full size… Or right-click, Save As…
Next stop was a cricket stadium whose view we get from the Parthasarathy Rock. There we spotted a fairly uncommon bird, the Yellow Wattled Lapwing which posed around for loads of pictures right in the middle of the cricket field. From there, we had a quick snack at the Aravalli Guest house and it was Goodbye for me then. The ticklist count said 40-44 species which was a disappointing number when compared to last year’s count. Perhaps checking out the same place again and again over a weeks time might have got us better results. Anyway, I got another neat snap with the right settings. A female sparrow with an insect (perhaps a dragonfly) in its mouth. With that, I sadly leave back to my home missing out the rest of the trek! JNU is a lovely place for anyone who needs a break, especially those who would be under loads of stress aftergiving in tons of exams this season.
Click to see full size…
PS: A canteen/dhaba named Gopaljee near the School of Social Sciences makes lovely Keema and Appam for quite cheap rates. Anyone visiting JNU for a walk/trek may have a meal here… 
Also, it seems as if every bloody plane starting or ending at New Delhi likes to go over JNU!
