A little bit of context before you begin reading this book review. I have recently enrolled for an MA in Philosophy at the University of Mumbai. Philosophy is something I have been getting interested in, over the past few years, as those of you who have been reading my blogs and Instagram posts would know. During the pandemic, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do next, and this is what I eventually came up with. It has been a challenge, getting back into academics as a student at this age, especially in a subject I have no academic background in. However, it has also been very exciting, especially thanks to my wonderful classmates (who, surprisingly, are of all age-groups, including some quite near my own) and my teachers, who have been very supportive and understanding. How well I will do is something that remains to be seen, but so far, I am enjoying this new journey and look forward to where it leads. Now that you know the background , you probably get an idea of how
A flock of birds pecking
at something on the ground caught my attention. They looked like sparrows, so I
turned my attention instead to a Little Green Bee Eater plucking out insects
from the air. It was only when the tiny sparrow landed nearer me that I realised
it wasn’t a sparrow – or at least, it wasn’t the common House Sparrow I see
everywhere.
Out came the camera and I
clicked furiously as the flock went about having their lunch.
It was Karthik who
enlightened me about the identity of these birds – these are Yellow
Throated Sparrows, also called Chestnut Shouldered Petronias. They
are a species of sparrow found in Asia, from Turkey to Afghanistan, Pakistan,
India and Bangladesh. There are vagrants found in Sri Lanka and also Myanmar.
Apparently, it’s quite a common bird, found in gardens, fields, and forests,
and it made me wonder why I haven’t noticed any before.
Can you see the dark brownish or chestnut patch on the shoulder? That, and the pale yellow patch on its throat (which you can see if you look really close, unfortunately, I need a better camera to show you) give the bird its name.
Interestingly, this is
the bird which is said to have introduced the legendary Salim Ali to
Ornithology. As a young boy, he shot a sparrow that looked different, and the
then secretary of the BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) identified it for
him, and also introduced him to the subject. His interest was sparked, and he
went on to become probably the most well-known ornithologist of the country. Isn’t
it interesting to see how simple things like these change the course of a
person’s life?
I guess I have never seen it before! Looks pretty.
ReplyDeletenext time you see a sparrow, take a closer look, Mridula! you never know!
DeleteNice one
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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DeleteHello mam, It sounds very good when I visited your great blog and felt nice even I read your entire blog like photograph collection super means It was awesome overall... Thanks for share
ReplyDelete