Genetic study of birds reveals new findings.

A recent five year research and DNA studies have shown many things we thought we knew about the evolution of birds were indeed flat out wrong. A friend of mine forwarded me this article from Discovery News.

To quote,

The results of the largest ever study of bird genetics are so widespread that the names of dozens of birds will now have to be changed, says the study to be published in Science magazine.

Among new discoveries the team found that birds repeatedly adapted to new environments. For example, flamingos and grebes did not evolve from other water birds, while birds that now live on land such as cuckoos did not evolve from other land birds.

Other findings were that, contrary to current thought, daytime hummingbirds evolved from nocturnal nightjars, falcons are not related to hawks and eagles and fast flying ocean birds are not related to pelicans and other water birds.

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Birds of Prey

A remarkable thing happens when you put music and video together. They help you connect with the visuals at a more deeper level. Even without words, you can tell a story, connect with the audience and bring them to react and respond to what you're saying without saying it. Its an art and a science. Like photography, good editing, choosing the right angles to shoot, capturing the right moments at the best light, and the whole post-production part is both a science and an art.

It took me several days to shoot this footage, sometimes going back to the spot again another day to get the shot you want, then hours of patiently sorting through them and editing the best ones you like. I knew even after this, I didn't have or get all the shots I wanted, but that's ok you make the best of what you have and keep trying for the best next time. I know I can do better, but this will have to do for now. Here in this video, I have even attempted to say something, hopefully it helps you to connect with the nature & wildlife.

Featured in this video are the Burrowing Owl from Shoreline park in Mountain View, Great-Horned Owlets from Claremont Canyon Reserve and Red-tail hawk from Half-moon bay. I was mostly zoomed all the way in to get the closeup shots. Thankfully the birds were not bothered by my presense. Watch it on HD here.

The Birder's Paradox

What is a birder's paradox ?

"If a birder shared the location of a bird with other local birders for everyone else to see it, this itself in turn causes nobody else to see it".

This is easy to understand. For instance, when a not-so-common bird is spotted by a birder, he/she would post that information to a local birding mailing list so it can go on the official records and also give a chance for other local birders to go and see the bird.

Usually this results in lots of avid birdwatchers visiting the bird on the same day or on same week that posting was made. Many ornithologists agree that the presence of many humans closer to nesting birds, could cause the bird to get very stressed and eventually fly away, sometimes never to return back to the nest. This could also happen to a rare bird that fledges from a local area because of humans.

When this happens to a nesting bird or a rare bird, nobody else would get to see the bird. If the birder had never posted his finding in the first place, again nobody else would see it and the presence of the bird would be unknown to everyone else.

I call this the birder's paradox.

So, Why do I bring this up now ?

A local birder posted the location of a Barn owl family with 3 owlets nesting on a palm tree in Menlo park neighourhood to a local birding community mailing lists. Soon after, many people have been visiting the owls, both birders and bird photographers alike. The neigbhours whose houses are adjacent to the nesting palm trees complained that the presense of bird photographers at night near the owl's nest (which is on top of a palm tree), are causing a lot of stress to the owlets and they fear this might have a deterring effect on them.

There has been a flood of emails in the past week discussing this topic. Some complain that such nest details should've never been posted, and some chimed in saying they would not report any rare bird for that matter, there is also a mixed bag of arguments about whose fault this is.

Arguments aside, certain questions remain as puzzles in this case. How did we conclude that the birds are stressed by us when they are sleeping in our presence ? In my experience, and with talking to other experts, if the birds get stressed you would clearly see it in their actions. They would engage in fright displays, their behaviour would seem restless, they would make alarm calls or turn away from us.

The best way to understand birds is to take clues from their behaviour. Its the only way we can really understand them. When I was there to photograph the owlets, the owlets got a little curious to see me first, they took a quick peek at me for 30 seconds and then went on straight to sleep for hours. So this is an assurance to me that they feel comfortable enough to sleep around my presence. I've noticed the exact same behaviour with the Claremont ave Great-horned owlets as well, inspite of the commotion raised by few casual onlookers that our presence is causing stress to the owlets.

The last thing a photographer wants to do is to scare the bird away and lose an opportunity to take a picture. While a newbie photographer may make a mistake of approaching the birds too close and cause them to fly away, just like any newbie birder or a loud motorcyclist driving by on the street might, an expert photographer would always take caution, he/she would look for the signs when the bird takes the slightest note of the photographer and when it makes the slightest of behavior changes. When this is observed, the expert photographer would always certainly back off to ease the bird and give some space.

Talking to the neighbours of menlo park owls, I came to know that these owls have been nesting on these palm trees for over 30 years in a row. And from what I understand, in the previous years, birders have posted the presence of these Owls to south-bay-birders mailing list.If the birds were getting too stressed in this area, then why would they continue to choose the same palm tree to nest every year? Again, their behavior shows they get curious, but are not bothered by us.

Yet are we being unfair to the welfare of birds in anyway by revealing their location publicly ? Or If we don't report it, are we being too selfish ? What really should a birder or bird photographer do in this case ? The answers to these questions are not a simple yes or no, it depends on the situation. The truth of the matter is, every individual has to take few responsibilities in understanding what is correct and follow a simple set of rules. Always back off when you see the first signs of birds getting stressed. Birds welfare should come first before everything else.

If no one had reported the bird sightings several decades ago, today bird watching would have never been a well known outdoor activity that it is today. A part of the reason why many bird conservation projects have got successful was because of many volunteers who post the presence of rare species in the neighborhood when they see one and create an awareness within the birding community.

When individuals don't exercise caution and behave inappropriately the matter should be dealt with that person individually as it should be. There is no reason for the whole birding community to keep their findings a secret.

What good would it be to report only the mallards and blackbirds and lose out on exotic species? To lose that opportunity and go backwards towards all the progress that has been made would be a big shame.

One of the things I loved when I got into birding was that, the birders in the bay area were extremely helpful and forthcoming in sharing their findings, which encouraged me a lot to continue this hobby. So I would love to see the reports of rare bird sightings to continue so we all can enjoy birding and keep it fun for everyone, just like it is today!.

Good Birding.

India Trip Report

Now that I got back from my yearly migration to India (read vacation), I thought I would post a rant on my trip here.. :)

Originally, I had planned to set aside a little time to myself and use this trip as an opportunity to visit Thattekad wildlife sanctuary in Kerala, India. I was told that this was the best place to see many of the rare species found in South India. However due to time constraints, I had to cancel that trip and limit myself to take photographs around the little town of Nagercoil, where I spent most of my time. However it wasn't such a bad idea. Actually, it turned out to be more fun than I had expected, as I got to witness the beautiful and colorful birds of Nagercoil, which I might have missed otherwise.

Nagercoil is located in the southern tip of Indian peninsula, only less than an hour away from Kanyakumari. Once you get away from the hustle and bustle of the center of the town, you'll see what this little jewel offers when it comes to natural beauty. With pristine lakes and beautiful rice fields that stretches into hundreds of acres, the place is a heaven for birds and humans.

The air here especially feels so fresh and clean, it is just the change you would expect and want, especially when you come from any of the crowded and polluted cities. Even the birds here seemed to be so brisk with activity and full of energy, it makes you wonder if they were taking a sip of Rockstar every morning :) Within the town boundaries, the White-throated kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parakeet and other birds constantly compete with each other to see who paints the narrow streets of old brick houses with more vibrant colors!.

As for the photographers go, there is no time to waste in this precious land. I arrived at Nagercoil on an early morning via the Kanyakumari Express passenger train from Chennai. The minute I arrived at my grand parents home, I spotted a hawk or eagle (not sure of the Id) perched on top of a coconut tree quite close to where I was staying. I was thrilled to see it. I grabbed my camera and rushed straight to the terrace.

Minutes later, I saw a WT Kingfisher perched on an electric wire waiting for its breakfast. Watching all this, I couldn't waste any minute to have my own breakfast, so I photographed and waited for the birds to return when they flew over. I never saw the kingfisher catch anything but every morning it would return back here and repeat its morning ritual. The parrots fight each other out constantly, and there are lots of them around. I was lucky to have one pose for me too.

Occasionaly I would log my 100-400mm on the streets looking for a rarity. I once chased the sound of a high pitch call, while i was expecting to see something bigger, it turned out to be from a smaller sized bird called Common Tailorbird. Rarely, I would also see a woodpecker fly by and check out the trees in our backyard. There were other water birds such as cormorants that flew by our house every now and then, at first it was all a bit too much to take that I could see all of this without leaving far from home!

Even though in the past I've been to Nagercoil too many times to keep a count, I've never seen it with the birder's eye. I felt this place was all the more beautiful than I once thought it was and I'm very happy to have acquired my new found hobby.

Reflecting back, I am in a way thrilled that India has a very rich variety of birds, some so colorful and incredible. Almost 1200 species is known to be found in this country alone. That number is much higher than the U.S species count (~900).

When I went back to the city, it was all a very different story. The case is quite saddening, actually. Pollution through air,water,and land are exceedingly growing so fast, its becoming a huge huge huge problem. Very little thought is being put to protect the environment and the natural habitat surrounding the cities. This affects both the human and the avian species.

For instance, the fresh water marsh lands that are just on the outskirts of the big metropolitan city Chennai are being used as garbage disposal dump yards. Tons and tons of garbage are being dumped into the pallikaranai marsh land everyday by the city.

Pallikaranai marsh land has been a home for naturally occurring plants (61 species), fish (46 species), birds (106 species), butterflies (7 species), reptiles (21 species) and some exotic floating vegetation such as water hyacinth and water lettuce, which are less extensive now and highly localized. (via)

Even after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had banned the dumping of waste into the marsh land and even after the marsh land area was declared as a national heritage land and wetlands reserve, the Corporation of Chennai is happily continuing to dump garbage into acres of these marsh land habitat and then set fire to them on a daily basis. I saw this first hand myself this time. This releases tons of toxic pollutants into the air and water below. Quickly and sadly many of the habitats where birds migrate to during the cold winter season in the north, are disappearing. It is estimated by some that if the current rate of dumping continues, in eight years, there won't be a Pallikarani marsh land anymore.

But really birds or wildlife are the least of the problems here as they have got much bigger problems to solve. Many ecological conservation groups and scientific research groups have together conducted a study on the effects of losing a marsh land. The reports from this study have indicated that the area is very vulnerable to devastating floods in the future. Other similar studies have also indicated that burning of the waste continues to release several toxic chemicals into the environment that are extremely harmful to human health. But the irony among all of this is that, the area around the dump yard is the fastest growing real estate property in Chennai today!. The real estate prices have appreciated over 300% in the last couple of years. Unimaginable inflation rate!. The rise in real estate prices in this area are fueled by hundreds of software companies setting up shop in the outskirts of the city, by increased income realized by the IT workers in the recent years, and also by the growing demand of the city population to move towards the city outskirts to make space.

The residents of perungudi, pallikaranai and thoraipakkam have protested to stop this whole mess, after many woke up to the burning smell carried by the wind miles away from their homes and many residents especially children's suffered from several respiratory problems and diseases.

Even the press has written many reports criticizing the illegal dumping and their harmful effects, but still there is no hope yet for Pallikaranai. May be the power to change all of this still lies within the people that live here and perhaps the software companies too, to force a change in the mindset among the government officials who allow the dumping to continue. More importantly, laws need to be strictly enforced so incidents such as these don't happen again here or in another town or another city.