Bird Podcast with Shoba Narayan

This episode is set in Hadinaru Kere, a lake outside Mysore in India. In the winter, the lake attracts a number of migratory birds. Some 85 species have been recorded in March 2023. This episode talks about the black-tailed godwit.

A conversation with the author of "Where Song Began."

In this episode, we talk to author Tim Low, whose book, "Where Song Began" has been credited with turning the map upside down in terms of ornithology's Northern hemisphere bias. Tim proves that the world's cleverest birds originated in Australia. Tim Low is an award winning author, biologist, consultant and speaker. You can read more about him at his website, Timlow.com

In this episode, Tim Low discusses Australian birds and what makes them unique.

In episode 28, we spoke to Dr. Samira Agnihotri about bird song and how the Solega tribals interacted so closely with the forest around them. This episode is about a recent visit to the BR Hills. It talks about how humans and wildlife can live together in the forest. Listen andWatch how the Solega tribals live and worship a Magnolia champaka tree or a Sampige tree as part of their culture.

This episode is about demoiselle cranes congregating in a village in India.

Last month, on a trip to Rajasthan, I visited the village of Kheechan. To get here, you have to fly to Jodhpur and drive two hours North. The thing about this place is that every winter, some 20,000 Demoiselle cranes congregate here because they are fed morning and night with grains or jowar. In this episode we explore the Demoiselle cranes that migrate to a Jain village in Western Rajasthan. These are the smallest cranes among the 15 species of cranes in the world. What's interesting is the attachment that they have with the villagers of Kheechan. Here, they have a daily routine.

Read about how a community feeds the cranes here. And read about sacred spaces called orans here.

From here: "Demoiselle cranes have to take one of the toughest migrations in the world. In late August through September, they gather in flocks of up to 400 individuals and prepare for their flight to their winter range. During their migratory flight south, demoiselles fly like all cranes, with their head and neck straight forward and their feet and legs straight behind, reaching altitudes of 16, 000 – 26, 000 m. Along their arduous journey they have to cross the Himalayan mountains to get to their over-wintering grounds in India. Many die from fatigue, hunger and predation from golden eagles. Simpler, lower routes are possible, such as crossing the range via the Khyber Pass. However, their presently preferred route has been hard-wired by countless cycles of migration. At their wintering grounds, demoiselles have been observed flocking with common cranes, their combined totals reaching up to 20, 000 individuals. Demoiselles maintain separate social groups within the larger flock. In March and April, they begin their long spring journey back to their northern nesting grounds.

They are part of Indian lore and legend. The crane formation was part of the Mahabharata. Valmiki composed the Ramayana when he saw a hunter kill cranes that were occupied in a mating dance.

Our first episode was about the Great Indian Bustard. The logo of the Bird Podcast is the Great Indian Bustard or GIB as it is called. Salim Ali wanted this bird to be India's national bird for three reasons: it is indigenous to India, it is a large and charismatic bird, and it deserves protection because its numbers were dwindling, even in the 1950s when Ali made his plea. Instead the peacock won out. Then, as now, the fate of the bustard hangs in balance. Will we save the bustard?

The biggest problem for bustards: the powerlines that criss-cross the desert landscape. Locals hate them because they are ugly. Bustards cannot see them because their frontal vision is poor. In October 2022, yet another bustard was killed because it flew into a power transmission line, prompting wildlife organizations such as the Bombay Natural History Society or BNHS to once again petition the government to lay these lines underground.

In 2017, when we interviewed forest officials in Desert National Park, there were 150 birds. Today too, there are 150 birds. So while the numbers haven't risen, they haven't dropped either. There are 128 in Rajasthan's desert regions, less than 10 in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and 16 chicks being raised in Sudashri incubation centre in Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan government has launched a project to save the bustard. Bird Podcast sincerely hopes that this will be successful.

This episode gives a glimpse into the birds of Australia, told through the eyes of Franck Masna, an aboriginal elder who tells us the story of how birds got their colours and also through the eyes of Michael Simmons who runs Tweed Escapes to show tourists the sights and sounds of the Tweed River in Australia. This video is about the Tweed Valley, New South Wales, about an hour by flight from Sydney.

When people think of Australian birds, they commonly think of emus, parrots and maybe the Southern Cassowary. But the country-continent 850 species of birds, 45% of them not found anywhere else. Some spectacular species include the giant Southern Cassowary where fathers incubate the eggs, the tawny frogmouth- a master of disguise, the barking owl, the rainbow lorikeet, the superb and the splendid fairy-wren, which are beautiful blue birds, the laughing kookaburra which is the basis of a song that we learned as children even here in India, and a whole variety of parrots. In fact, early Dutch explorers called this land Terra Psitticora or Land of the parrots.

Did you know that pretty much all songbirds and 60% of all bird species originated in Australia. In fact, Australian scientists often talk about how much of a "Northern Hemisphere" bias ornithology has. In future episodes, we hope to interview experts from Australia but for now, here is a teaser episode in which I interview two folks from the Tweed River.

This is a story about a wood stork called Flinthead. He lived with his partner in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida. The wood stork couple depended on the wetlands in Florida for not just their survival but also to bring up their babies.

This is a post-episode trailer of Episode 5 where I interviewed Dr. Jerry Jackson.

Even though the audio isn't perfect, Episode 5 is worth listening to because he covers so much ground. Ecology, wood storks, wetlands, anhingas, and much more.

Here I focus on one aspect of that episode: wood storks

This episode is about wetlands. This is a post-episode trailer of Episode 5 where I interviewed Dr. Jerry Jackson.

Even though the audio isn't perfect, Episode 5 is worth listening to because he covers so much ground. Ecology, wood storks, wetlands, anhingas, and much more.

Here I focus on one aspect of that episode: wetlands

What is the feeling that you get when I say these words? Swamps, marshes, bogs, mangroves, flood plains. If you didn't wince, good for you. Humans seem fundamentally averse to wetland because we think of them as a breeding ground for insects– which they are. But they are also the most diverse ecosystem there is. And for this reason, they are supremely important.

There are three things every wetland needs: hydric soil, which is the scientific term for soil that is submerged in water for long periods of time. Which results in oxygen-less soil in the upper part, which in turn causes a particular type of plant species called hydrophytes to grow. These aquatic plants like water lilies and sedges create their own unique ecosystem– called wetlands.

In Episode 5, Dr. Jerry Jackson has a simple term for wetlands. Wetlands are wet land. They are not ponds, or lakes. They are lands that get submerged in water. Wetlands are huge in ecology. In fact, we have a particular organization called Ramsar that focuses on important wetlands all over the world.

Wetlands occur everywhere except in one continent. Guess which one? I'll give you a hint. Which is the continent where nothing can stay wet?

Where is the biggest wetland? All this and more in this episode.

In this episode, we have Professor Yossi Leshem from Israel joining us to discuss several things: tracking migratory storks with GPS, working with barn owls as pest control agents, regional cooperation, reducing aircraft collisions, and working with defense forces. Dr. Leshem has won countless awards and is Professor Emeritus at the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University and is the founder of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration.

Post Episode Trailers are short episodes in which I highlight an earlier episode that is worth watching.

This episode is about Episode 12 of The Bird Podcast in which author and migration expert, Scott Weidensaul talks about the amazing feats that birds do in order to migrate.