Chembur's chidiyas!

One morning, when we had just moved back to Chembur, the better half froze, staring out of the window, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Grabbing my hand, he muttered, “A Golden oriole!” Yeah right, I replied, and turned to see the most obscenely-bright-yellow bird on the gulmohur outside. Now I’ve grown up here and never spotted anything like this before. Perhaps the little fellow was visiting? Or perhaps it was just me. Because Amit (a member of the World Wildlife Fund) seemed to spot a new bird almost every day. Red-Crested bulbuls, Coppersmiths, Magpie robins, Fan-tailed flycatchers – it was a veritable kaleidoscope of species!

Our family physician, Dr. Shrirang Bakhle, also a bird lover, has an explanation for why I hadn’t seen the birds before. “The eye doesn’t see what the mind doesn’t know, and that’s why it’s important to sensitize kids to nature.” And Dr Bakhle certainly does his bit. Not only does he watch birds and rescue those in distress, he also talks to children about nature.

He tells us about the beautiful barn owls he has rescued and about the parakeet that is currently recuperating with him. “We nurse injured birds and set them free in the appropriate environment…” His wife Varsha and their children Madhur and Mohini are enthusiastic bird-nurturers too. Obviously, he has some amazing stories. Showing us photos of a strangely-coloured egret, he explains, “When we found this baby egret, someone had applied orange food-colouring on it. So Dr Kehimkar of BNHS suggested that we call it a Tandoori Egret!” The Bakhles tended the bird and later set it free in Uran.

Dr Bakhle has shot a film called Our Birds and screens it for small groups. “Most of the birds in the film are from Chembur itself! People aren’t aware that Mumbai has so many different birds. We found that kids could identify foreign birds like canaries thanks to the Discovery Channel, but not local birds like Golden orioles.”

Chembur’s trees are a great bird-magnet, he feels. “Especially the Indian Coral... But because most land is paved, species like the Coppersmith and sparrows are declining. The best places for bird sightings in Chembur are BPCL colony and Chheda Nagar (for water-birds). We’ve spotted fairly rare birds like the Green Bee-eater (in Diamond Garden) and the Rosy Starling (in BPCL)!”

Dr Bakhle’s lifelong interest in birds has grown after he joined the BNHS. “I feel that birds will thrive if we just leave them some space… In fact, we’re lucky that despite so much development, nature in Mumbai is often just outside our windows, so kids can be made aware of it easily.”

Here’s to you and your fellow enthusiasts, Dr Bakhle… may your tribe increase!

(Dr Bakhle can be contacted at 9821312013 / 25282595)

This article appeared in The Mumbai Mirror, April 29, 2006