Trees are vital to life on earth, both humans and wildlife. Studies have shown that being around nature increases your concentration and reduces levels of depression. Trees also bring together people and communities for various religious and ecological events.
We had an opportunity to experience all of these benefits today. A group of kids and adults went today to a trail on the Bangalore University campus along with our mentor, Guru Prasad Sir, to water trees.
We walked on a mud path and searched for birds along the way. There was an amazing variety of birds - ranging from the common white-cheeked barbet to the Chestnut-tailed Starling.
Here is the ebird checklist -
At the start of our birdwalk, we saw that the previous visitors had left a lot of plastic on the ground. Soon after this, a volunteer came and asked us to help him pick it up. He was quite devoted towards making the mini-forest plastic-free, and he showed us a video of him berating his own son for throwing plastic. He then gave all the small kids MangoBites, which I am quite sure was a test to see what we did with the plastic wrapper. I placed the wrapper carefully in my pocket of course, and made sure it didn’t fall out. We put all the plastic trash in a bag and gave it to the volunteer for disposal.
After our impromptu cleanliness drive, we started our birdwalk. Almost immediately, we saw an Asian Brown Flycatcher. This was the first time I had ever seen that bird. I was expecting something closer to the asian paradise flycatcher, with its long tail, so I was quite surprised when I saw that it looked much more like a sparrow.
We later saw a red-whiskered bulbul tossing leaves. I learnt from Guru Prasad sir that birds often toss leaves to search for any food that might be hidden underneath it.
We also saw many chestnut-tailed starlings sitting on branches of a tree. A few black drongos interfered with the poor chestnut-tailed starling’s feeding by snatching food from them. We also saw 3 peacocks sitting on far away trees. We also heard bird sounds of tailor birds and flowerpeckers all through the trail. We referred to a pamphlet provided by sir for any birds that we were not aware of.
When we were nearing the end of our birdwalk, we helped to water plants and saplings. We carried a heavy pipe which was connected to a tanker full of water. It felt disturbingly like a carrying worm at first, but it was both a fun and enriching experience in the end.
This tree planting drive aimed to water plant saplings in the Jnana Bharathi University Campus to increase its green cover. Jnana Bharati campus is one of the two campuses of the Bangalore University campus and it boasts of a huge bio park with many trees and thousands of species. It is a major bio-park to the otherwise urban city of Bangalore. I was surprised to see both tree covered roads as well as small trails with a variety of birds. It is important that such bio-parks be conserved in the interest of a sustainable future. I hope to participate in more such activities. I also hope more city dwellers participate in such activities to protect the green spaces in Bangalore.
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