Shillong, Feb 15: The narrow road behind the city’s dump yard swerves into a birds’ paradise. But one has to cross an inferno to witness the splendour.
“It is amazing to see how life thrives around this place,” Ezra Rynjah, an ecologist and researcher at Conservation Initiatives, a non-profit organisation, looking at the burning solid waste at Marten and the flock of birds circling the sky above.
On Saturday morning, Rynjah led a team of nine on the bird walk, which was part of the global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). In his team were experts and amateurs equipped with binoculars and cameras.
Tenzin Khepahk was at the venue with his six-year-old son Aria. “I have been a nature and wildlife enthusiast for many years. Birding came naturally. I got more interest after working on a few short documentaries on bird species such as Demoiselle crane and Western Tragopan,” said Khepahk, who spotted nuthatch, minivet and gray sibia for the first time on Saturday.
Sanborlang Byrsat, an academic, started birding recently under peer influence.
This year, over 500 local birdwatching walks and talks have been planned from over 30 states and Union Territories under the global GBBC, organised by Cornell University and the Audubon Society.
GBBC in India is coordinated by Bird Count India, an umbrella group of over 50 birding, nature and conservation organisations and groups.
The data of the birds spotted will be uploaded to eBird, a platform to collect and collate data on the species and number of avians across the country.
The team members targeted their binoculars and cameras at the trees, spotting a species and excitedly calling at each other. The team’s experts explained how to identify birds and add them to the database.
Among the birds spotted on Saturday were White-browed Shrike-Babbler, Rufous Woodpecker, Little Spiderhunter, Grey-backed Shrike and Green-backed Tit.
“The GBBC is a festival for me. It brings people who love birds and birding together. I wish to see more people joining the walk each year,” said Rynjah.
