It was the second week of March 2020 when my team and I were out in the field at Vadla wetland near Nal Sarovar Ramsar site, Gujarat. We were deploying mist-nets and noose traps to capture and tag Common...

It was the month of March, when the breeding season of Jungle Babbler starts. That’s when I started my quest in the search for a nest to observe their nesting and parental behaviour. After long days of...

There have been many memorable instances from the field, like the elusive White-winged Ducks flying over my head; observing the majestic Greater Adjutants at the Guwahati garbage dump yard and watching around...

In November 2018, I started carrying out regular surveys inside a village heronry named Kokkare-Bellur in southern India which involved going to each tree and counting the number of nests of waterbirds on it....

While working in Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal, we did weekly checks for over 100 nest boxes spread over several hectares. Some of these nest boxes were occupied by pairs of White-rumped Shama...

The month of April. A fulgent morning in Harsil, a quaint hamlet en route to the celebrated pilgrim site of Gangotri. I was walking the banks of the Bhagirathi, a major headwater to the Ganges, to get...

Being born and brought up in a city, I would enjoy every outing in nature during treks and hikes. I was keen on taking my interest in nature ahead and getting trained formally in a field that involves...

My earliest recollection of trying to identify and name a bird was probably back from when I was 8 or 9 years old. I did not know the names of birds other than that of the ones commonly seen in cities, but I...

Perhaps an experience of forest at night is something one can’t forget. More so, if you observe a night turn to dawn and the orchestra of birds to commence, reach climax and end as beautifully as it started....

As part of my first research project, I was counting flock sizes of mynas leaving a bamboo clump (their roost) at dawn. Two hours had passed, and it was nearing 7 am when I spotted a Shikra settle on the...

Fieldwork on birds has always been exciting, but never more than the time when we were tagging the first set of Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) in the Thar desert. It was the summer of 2019, I was just finishing...

I remember being in Honnavar, a coastal city on the estuary of the river Sharavathi, after a long day of field work of fish sampling. It was a long, hot, sunny day - our nets kept drifting with the tide and...