Illustrated guide released on birds of Tiruvannamalai

Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep… resonates across Tiruvannamalai, thanks to two groups of volunteers, who spent 30 years on afforestation programmes on the hill. As a result, the bird population has gone up from 30 species back then to 200-odd as of this year — the Annamalai Reforestation Society started in 1988 and Forest Way Charitable Trust formally launched in 2008 can take credit for this. Right from creating firefighting operations and drastically increasing the green cover, the groups’ volunteers made it all possible.

Since they’ve been documenting the avians found in and around the surroundings, they decided to compile it into a book. Titled Birds of Tiruvannamalai, it was published in July by Forest Way Charitable Trust. Arun Venkatraman, one of those whose efforts went into its making, says, “Two years ago, we thought the book was ready with 150-odd species but at the time of release, the count had reached 204. Between printing and release, we added a few more!” Keeping Tiruvannamalai as the centre, a 10 km radius around it was taken as the base area, which included water bodies and scrub forests that existed from before.

Arun, who’s also one of the founders of Maduram Farm School, shares, “Over the past few decades, we’ve recorded many interesting bird species — let’s start with the ones we didn’t expect to find like the greater racket-tailed drongo. We commonly see the black drongo and ashy during migration season, but we’ve also spotted the white-bellied and spangled drongos.” Quite a few raptors have made it on their list too: Indian spotted eagle, crested serpent eagle, tawny eagle and honey buzzard, to name a few. “We saw a black eagle too!” he intervenes.

“Some of the best surprises were seeing a white-rumped shama, sand grouse, large grey babbler and zitting cisticola (streaked fantail warbler). As soon as we see a bird, we update it on our eBird App checklist,” says Arun. Closer to the upper ranges of the hill, blue rock thrushes (called sigaram in Tamil) and a healthy population of yellow-throated bulbuls can be found, while in the waters below, pelicans, spoonbills, greater cormorants, greater painted snipes, etc. have been recorded. “We have a lake called Samudram behind our school, where we spotted thousands of glossy ibises last year. A couple of other water bodies in the vicinity have filled up nicely too, owing to good rain, so we are in talks with the forest department about preserving these,” he explains.

Birds of Tiruvannamalai has many other unique aspects such as its artwork. “Many paintings and photographs of the birds that were done by an avid bird-watcher and artist called Kumar are featured in the book, so it goes beyond being just a guide to a more artistic and educational book about the characteristics of birds, where to find them, etc. based on reputed ornithologist Salim Ali’s, findings. Moreover, it was self-published because we chose to make it on recycled paper — we can’t cut trees being an afforestation group!” he quips.

To purchase a copy of book that’s priced at Rs. 250, visit Organic Farmer’s Market in Adyar and Thugil, a store in Magalingapuram.