At a time when J&K faces immense human challenges and biodiversity is being dismantled, this book comes as a relief, writes Mahesh Kaul
The State of Jammu & Kashmir has the distinction of being the habitat to varied species of birds besides being rich in vegetation and climatic conditions that makes it the desired destination of these myriad species. It is nature’s blessing that besides being the favoured destination among tourists all over the world, the birds of various hues flock this State too. like humans, birds are also sensitive to the environment around them and require the harmony of nature for breeding and other activities. But over the years, not only the humans in the Valley, but the presence of these birds (both indigenous and migratory) are witnessing a decline in terms of population, visitation and breeding due to the human inflicted challenges and the insensitivity of one and all.
At such a crucial juncture when biodiversity is being dismantled in the State, the book titled Threatened Birds of Jammu & Kashmir, written by Dr Asad R Rahmani and his professional team that includes Intesar Suhail, Pankaj Chandan, Khursheed Ahmed and Ashfaq Ahmed Zarri, is a timely move. The book is a rich reservoir of data, contemporary research, field work and analysis regarding the habitats of the species of the birds in the State and delves at length suggesting the ways and means to conserve bird species.
The book has been divided into five sections: ‘Critically Endangered’, ‘Endangered’, ‘Vulnerable’, ‘Near Threatened’, and ‘Marginal’. These sections cater to the threats and dangers to various species at various levels and discuss them in detail. In the section ‘Critically Endangered’, the authors discusses the white baked or white rumped vulture. This species is found in Jammu. The authors have analysed dwindling of this species in a scientific manner.
Discussing the impact of their decline on the ecology, they write: “It affects open countryside, avoiding thick forests and wooded hilly areas. Feeding as it does on large carcasses; it locates them visually, by soaring regularly on thermals, covering vast areas of hundreds of square kilometres a day. It also locates food by following other descending vultures and scavengers.”
Other species that have been discussed in this section include the slender-billed vulture. The book provides recommendations for the conservation of these species. The threat to these species has increased over the years due to the extraction of diclofenac from these species for medicinal use. The next section ‘Endangered’ is dedicated to the issue of Egyptian vultures. It was also recorded on three different visits to the Surinsar Mansar Wildlife Sanctuary in the winter of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The species can be easily seen along the River Tawi and the outskirts of Jammu city. The third section, ‘Vulnerable’, is quite large as it includes various species that include western tragopan, cheer pheasant, lesser white-fronted goose, marbled duck, pallas’s fish-eagle, greater spotted eagle, eastern imperial eagle, sarus crane, black-necked crane, pale -backed or yellow-eyed pigeon, and Kashmir flycatcher. While analysing these species in terms of threats to their existence, the authors have
divided their study and research into the following heads:
The fourth section, ‘Near Threatened’, is another longer section that deals with important species of birds that frequent J&K, making the avifauna and biodiversity of the State rich. But conservation and survival threats cause serious concerns among ornithologists and people concerned with ecological balance. Various species of birds included in this section and discussed in detail include ferruginous duck, black-necked stork, black-headed ibis, black-tailed godwit, Eurasian curlew, cinereous vulture, European roller, long-billed bush-warbler, and tytler’s leaf-warbler.
The last section titled ‘Marginal’ includes the following species that have been studies as per the standardised format adopted in every section: red-headed King vulture, painted stork, oriental darter, red kite, pallid harrier, little bustard. References have been included at the end of the book besides the index of the common names. The book has been published by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and printed by Oxford University Press.
Authors have dedicated this book based on field studies to Dato loke Wan Tho, who was a reputed businessman and ornithologist and keen bird-watcher. The concluding paragraph of the introduction to the book sums up well the objective and broader framework of the work. It reads, “Overall, the key threats to birds and other biodiversity of the State are habitat encroachment, overgrazing by live stock, tourism, firewood collection, and forest fires. As is the case across the world and in India, loss of wetlands owing to human interference is continuing and has resulted in degradation of large numbers of wetlands in the State.”
This book reminds keen observers of the State’s biodiversity of the foremost bird-watcher and ornithologist, late Pt Samsar Chand Kaul of Rainawari, Srinagar, who set the benchmark in this field without any patronage, trained his students in the subject and taught them to internalise the sense of living in harmony with nature.
Although the print quality and presentation of the book are good, it would have benefitted the scholars and keen readers if the book had been divided into chapters and a comprehensive index was added at the end. Hope the authors and publisher will work upon it in the next edition. It will lead to the value edition of this important book.
The writer is a PhD scholar, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Jammu