Different Joys Birds Bring to Us

In previous editions, we shared an overview about birding as a hobby and now we dive a little deeper to explore different ways in which birds bring joy in our lives. People often have different interests but sometimes those different interests collide to form a new interest. For me, my love for nature and passion for photography led me to ‘bird photography’.

- Priyal Shah*

The power of social media further led to discovery of the hobby of birdwatching and various other ways in which birds influence our lives and bring joy. Unlike tigers, lions or other wildlife, birds are around us almost wherever we go; we see them in concrete jungles, dense forests, deserts, wetlands, snow-covered mountains and even in middle of oceans. This is the reason, it is easy as well as exciting to take up birding; on one hand you don’t necessarily have to travel a lot to see birds, and on the other, they open up possibilities of some thrilling adventures of travelling and exploring different kinds of habitats.

Birds have been an integral part of humans’ lives in various ways – the most important being the ecological relationship. Humans depend on birds for pollination; about 5% of plants we use for food or medicine are pollinated by them. In addition to that, birds are sentinel species; their behaviour can provide advance warnings to potential risks to humans. For instance, in the absence of technology, canary birds used to be taken to mines and their behaviour would help detect rising levels of carbon monoxide or other toxic gases in the mine before they reached levels that could cause harm to miners. Apart from these, birds have influenced our lives in various ways and if you’ve just gotten interested in birds, you can know there’s a whole lot for you to explore, experience, and enjoy.

CHASING BIRDS