History of Bird - watching in India.

The people of the India have lived for several thousand years in close proximity to its rich natural life. Observation of birds in India has a long and ancient history. References to birds can be found as early as 1700-1000 BC from the earliest Hindu religious work, the Rig Veda, refers to about 20 birds, whereas Yajur Veda and subsequent Vedas list up to 250, and include an interesting observation of brood parasitism by Asian Koels . Not only poets described birds in their poems but great rulers too were fascinated by birds. In the 16^th century, the Mughal rulers observed local birds and kept meticulous records. Humayun was said to have stopped a hunt to have a painting made of a bird he had never seen before, while emperor Jehangir’s knowledge of the devotion of Sarus crane to their mates, and the behaviour of brood parasites like the Chataka or Jacobin cuckoo, revealed his fascination for ornithology. In fact he even commissioned several artists like Ustad Mansur and Abu’l-Hasan to portray birds with great accuracy.

The scientific documentation of Indian Birds began after arrival of the Europeans to India. At the start of the 18^th century, as the Mughal Empire declined and the British power grew, there were an increasing number of people who were fascinated by the birdlife. It was around this time that Carl linnaeaus of Swedan started the first proper classification of birds, establishing their scientific study worldwide. The earliest book describing birds in India is attributed to Eleanyar Albin in 1738. In 1830’s during his tenure Sykes published Catalogue of birds and mammals of the Deccan in the proceedings of the Zoological Society in 1832, which listed 56 birds new to science, including the Indian Pond heron. His list of birds of the Deccan included 236 species and in A catalogue of the Birds of the Bombay Deccan, he described several new species, naming many after Hindu deities. There after many legendary works from the prominent birders of the time which include Edward Buckley, McClelland, Franklin and Tickell from their work in Northeast and the Bengal peninsula, and Vidal worked on the birds of the Konkan and Travancore. After 1850, there came the magnificent, six volume Birds of Asia. 

Though the contributions of these stalwarts are considerable, the inception of ornithology in India is credited to Capt. Surgeon Thomas, C.Jerdon, Brian Hodgson and Edward Blyth, collectively called founders of Indian ornithology. The next major ornithological advance came with the arrival of Allan Octavius Hume, who is referred to as the ‘Pope of Indian Ornithology’.

 In 1889, Eugene W. Oates and W.T.Blandford produced the first volume of Fauna of British India. This included detailed observation on regions not covered in earlier works, and were the most significant reference works on Indian Ornithology. Baker’s important works included the eight bird volumes of the second edition of the Fauna of British India published between 1922 and 1931.  The first book, which could be used by birders in the field was Hugh Whistler’s Popular Handbook of Indian birds(1928). 

This was then followed by Dr. Salim Ali’s legendary work The Book of Indian Birds (1941). This book stimulated local interests in bird watching and culminated in the publication of the classic 10 volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (Ali & Ripley, 1964-74) which described 1200 birds from the area. The development of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in 1833 gave a major boost to the growth of interest in birds. Another well-known birder was Zafar Futehally, who founded and edited the newsletter for Birdwatchers in 1959 which encouraged amateur bird watchers. Recently a field guide to Indian birds, Birds of the Indian subcontinent by Grimmet, Inskipp and Inskipp, by three authors turned many people into birders and made them fall in love with these natures colourful beauties. This gave major ecological base to avian habitat conservation and also about the conservation of the wetlands.