Bird Tales from the Himalayas – Sanjay Sondhi & Anusha Menon

Description

Birds belong to the most interesting taxonomic group of living beings. They look attractive, can sing and fly too. On the top of it, they are omnipresent. No wonder more and more people are getting interested in birds and for many people, they provide a window to the magnificent world of nature. Himalayas are one of the most bird rich regions of the world. They are only second to Andes in breeding bird richness in the world and harbour nearly a thousand species. The small state of Uttarakhand alone harbours over 700 species of birds. In recent times, there is a flood of stunning pictures of Himalayan birds. More and more people are easily using, affordable advanced equipment for bird photography and many of them publish pictorial accounts or coffee table books on them. However, the literature on their various other facets is largely lacking. As a result, the knowledge on this interesting group is getting limited largely to their identification and at best, their geographic distribution. “Bird Tales from the Himalayas” is an attempt to bridge this gap in a simple and sincere manner.

The author, Sanjay Sondhi, who has decades of experience of watching and keenly observing birds, has carefully chosen fifty species of Himalayan birds which are unique in some way or the other. The lucid descriptions include morphology, ecology and breeding biology in very simple understandable language. Besides this, he has very nicely described the connection with local customs, traditions and folklore. Some historical perspectives including the etymology of the bird name add yet another dimension to the page long text for each species. The best part is the author’s own connect with the bird describing his own sightings and the associated observation in beautiful language. The illustration of each described bird species, in their natural habitats, often embellished with local folklore, is the icing on the cake.