Bird Podcast with Shoba Narayan

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Shashank Dalvi's Big Year of Birding all over India.

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Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal are veteran journalists and birdwatchers. They ran newsrooms, assigned features and wrote books. They publish a website called FlyingLessons.US: What We’re Learning from the Birds,’’ and are here with us to speak about their new book, “A Wing and a Prayer: the race to save our vanishing birds.

Questions:

1. What is the thesis of your book
2. Your book begins with a sparrow and a woodpecker. Tell us about that.
3. One third of the birds have disappeared from North America. Shocking statistics. Discussion
4. The bald eagles resurgence in North America. Do you think this has to do with size and resonance as the nation’s symbol?
5. Scrub jays symbolise the balance between human development and endemic birds. How does this play out?
6. Using sound to protect a storied species: california spotted owl.
7. Cerulean warblers in Ecuador. Talk about the Choco Corridor and multiple countries that need to work together
8. Hawaii is the extinction capital of the world. Why? And How can this change?
9. The red cockaded woodpecker and the US military. Coexisting with birds
10. Outline some case studies of getting this done.
11. Making a case for birds.

When a pigeon comes into the house. This is a controversial episode. In fact, I am pretty sure nobody in the nature groups that I am part of will approve of this. In fact, they may even condemn this episode. Because you see, it is about pigeons, which birders call flying pests. But here’s what happened and so, if you listen or watch this episode, advance apologies.

About six months ago, a rock pigeon made a nest in my mother-in-law's balcony. This episode is about the ripple effects after that.

One day, I returned after a long trip and visited my mother-in-law who lives in a separate apartment in my building to discover that a pigeon had laid two eggs on a chair that she uses to sit on in her balcony. My mother in law was quite delighted with this development. She lives alone and having a living creature inhabit her home gave her a lot of pleasure. The problem is that these feral pigeons– rock doves– are carriers of disease.

Bird Podcast is one of the Top 20 science podcasts in India per Feedspot.

We are so sorry but we messed up. The previous episode that was published was an interview with Judith Mirembe. For some reason, the full conversation did not go out. Here is the full-length interview. Those who listened to part of it before, please fast forward to 22:00 minutes.

Our guest today is Judith Mirembe who is currently based in Uganda. Judith is a bird guide and researcher with a passion for birds, keen on their conservation as well as protection of their habitats. This passion stems back from when she was a kid where she learnt birds in her local language and appreciated the cultural stories attached to them.

She is the Chairperson of the Uganda Women Birders’ Club, that started in 2013 as an initiative to introduce women to birdwatching, a profession that is dominated by men in Africa. This passion led her into starting a non-profit organization, Shoebill-Watch Uganda whose major aim is to protect the Shoebill and other bird species in Uganda. She holds a Masters Degree in Environment and Natural Resources and has done a number of courses by the Tropical Biology Association (TBA) on application of Citizen Science in research and conservation of species. She has in the past (2016-2019) worked with Nature Uganda, a Birdlife International Partner in Uganda as the research and monitoring coordinator where her major role was to coordinate bird population monitoring in Uganda. Judith is a Zoological Society of London (ZSL) EDGE (Evolutionally Distinct and Globally Endangered ) of Existence Fellowship Alumni (2017-2019) where she together with the local communities on the shores of Lake Victoria carried out research on the Shoebill, a globally threatened bird species. She has continued this amazing and ground breaking working with the local communities at Mabamba wetland where she has trained the local guides to use a mobile phone tool to monitor the Shoebill and the threats it is faced with as they go about their routine of guiding tourists. She is the editor for the Birdwatch, a newsletter talking about Uganda’s birdwatching sector

Here are some questions that Judith answered in the interview.

1. For people who have not visited Uganda, can you tell us some of the species of birds that we can see there?
2. What are some of your favorite species and why?
3. Please talk about the different habitats that are found in Uganda.
4. Please tell us what is special about the shoebill and why you started the conservation program for this bird?
5. Tell us some of the cultural symbolism associated with birds? For example, do people believe that certain birds bring them good luck or bad luck?
6. What are some of the spectacular raptors that you see in Uganda? What about ground dwelling birds such as ostriches which we don’t see in India.
7. The national bird of Uganda is the gray crowned crane. Is there any folk belief or any stories associated with this bird? Why did Uganda choose this as the national bird?
8. You have some incredibly beautiful birds in Uganda. Can you describe a few of your favorites. Maybe the turaco?
9. India’s national bird is a great Indian bustard. You also have bustards in Uganda. Can you talk about that?
10. You also have hornbills-- some pretty impressive ones.
11. What made you start Uganda Women Birders?
12. Lastly, please tell us about conservation efforts that are happening in Africa and specifically in Uganda.