Fewer chirps made bizman the birdman

CHANDIGARH: City-based birder and industrialist Narbir Singh wanted his daughter to experience the sights and sounds he witnessed in the City Beautiful, hoping the bio-diversity and flora and fauna would enrich her life. Little did he realise that when he’d take his daughter across the road to Leisure Valley from his Sector 10 home in the early hours, the chirping of birds would not fill her ears.
This became a matter of worry for Singh, who developed a keen interest in documenting birds visiting the city, photographing them and keeping them stored with him until he found the time and the direction to compile them into something meaningful.“My father was in the Army, so we moved a lot around the country. However, as much as my paternal grandfather was against the idea of killing birds and animals, my maternal family was full of leisurely hunters. I had seen a great deal of wildlife in my life, which was sort of missing by the time of my daughter in 2000-2001,” said Singh.
Singh post that time would often take his daughter to Morni hills, Mirzapur and other diverse areas around the city to explore wildlife and document the birds, until in 2004, he joined a Delhi based e-group, Delhi Bird Group. The online forum opened Singh’s eyes to numerous birders from Delhi and other parts of the country who started responding to his reports and questions and gave him a place to engage in.
Singh, who serves on the wildlife board for both Chandigarh and Punjab, has been an active participant in retaining the natural appearance for the newly-opened “Nagar Van (City Forest)” to keep birds in their natural habitat. “I am in talks with the UT forest department to create as many ‘hides’ as possible for the birds we can in the forest to protect them from adverse climate,” he said.
Talking about the decline in the number of migratory birds visiting Sukhna Lake over the years, Singh said there was a time Sukhna was a “wetland” and a “marsh”, which had become a popular place for different bird species to get attracted and come here. There was an abundance of food for them too, he said. However, Singh believes the removal of top soil, during the de-silting of the lake, has been a major cause of decline in the population of migratory birds. “The removal of top soil while de-siting affects the environment and that is why birds have stopped coming. While de-silting is important, the silt should not be thrown outside but should be used to create smaller islands within the lake, which will attract birds and create a natural slope. Micro bird habitats (ponds) should be created by the administration," added Singh.
Being a part of Chandigarh Bird Club, Singh has been a part of the release of “Birds of Chandigarh”, a book in association with department of forest and wildlife, UT, as a field guide for locals and travellers this year.