why watch birds?

This simple question has no easy answer. Birds are beautiful to look at. Birds are around us, not far from home; we can watch them from our windows, even from our bird as the sunlight lightens up the dark sky in the morning. Many of the birds sing, their unique and sweet voice livening up our daily lives. We may not hear them because we are most often immersed in electronic noises around us; but they are there, on the branch outside the window, high in the peepul tree in the street, around the well, near the electric pole, they are everywhere, singing, hopping about, sitting still or flirting with flowers and fruits. They add beauty and music to our dull and loud urban landscape, where most of us live today. Birds tell us about ourselves and our surroundings. Fewer birds and bird songs mean polluted, concrete surroundings, less trees and flowers; a higher number of birds indicate trees, bushes, flowers and fruits, a cleaner environment, clean water sources and generally garbage-less place of living. Birds are also an important indicator of the degradation of our surroundings. When local birds began disappearing from their traditional habitat, it should ring a bell about the decay and destruction of our environment. When sparrows, once a common local bird in many parts of the country, began disappearing, no one noticed initially till there were no sparrows to be seen in most of the localities. It was then discovered that sparrows were losing out to dramatic changes in the landscape and living habits of people. Likewise, vultures, a useful carrion bird, began to fall dead in large numbers and it was discovered later that they were dying of poison they were ingesting while feeding on dead animals. The poison was in the carcass of animals who were fed on pesticide-laden grass and other materials. There are other equally graphic examples which tell us how birds, their presence and absence, tell us about the way we live and our surroundings. Now about the activity of bird watching. Three straightforward reasons can be cited. One is that it sharpens sight and makes mind alert to natural surroundings. Two, it is a way to explore our natural world. Three, it gives you a good reason to be happy, just to look at the sky and watch a flock of white, shimmering geese flying in an arrow formation under a cloudless, blue sky.