VIRUDHUNAGAR: To celebrate the birth month of the 'Bird Man' of India Salim Ali, a private college accountant from Rajapalayam has collected pictures of 29 endemic birds of the Western Ghats and shared them on social media with the hashtags #BirdNov and #BirdNov2022. The move, through different themes and methods, was as part of an awareness programme with the Tamil Birders Network and bird enthusiasts.
The 34-year-old S Vishnu Shankar, who is also the assistant coordinator of the nature club in his college, said he had spotted 20 of the 29 endemic birds, including white-checked barbet, crimson-backed barbet, and ruby-throated bulbul.
"Recently, the two species of laughing thrush birds have been branched into four: Palani Laughingthrush, Banasura Laughingthrush, Ashambu Laughingthrush, and Nilgiri Laughingthrush. If a species of a bird is separated by barriers, such as a valley or island, they evolve into a separate species. It results in the modification of genes, and the same has happened to this Laughingthrush that lived in different regions over several million years. All of them are endemic to the Western Ghats. Such innovative activities will help make the public aware of birds," he said, adding that Shankar has been accompanying students for bird watching on a college campus during weekdays for eight years.
Taking inspiration from Shankar, P Gowthama Pandian, a Second Year CSE student from the same college joined the initiative and shared information about the state birds of India on his social media handles. "I joined Shankar as I realised the larger public may not be aware of the state birds," said the 18-year-old.