Niraj's Birding Journey
The First Seed - Interest Jan 24
Introduction to Birding - Passion
- First Bird Count Walk Preparations Birding by Sounds
- First Bird Count Walk Aug 24
Backyard Birding - Photography Aug Dec 24
- Phone Camera Aug Dec 24
- NIKON COOLPX 950 P Jan 25 Onwards
Sharing Journey with my Grand Daughter Oct 25
Niraj's Birding Journey
The First Seed
I was 73 years old in January 2024. I did not even know the word “Birding” when the first seeds of this journey was sown.
I was still active, loved walking, travel and nature. On a vacation in Nasik, Maharashtra, India we visited one of the listed tourist attractions – the Nandur Bird Sanctuary.
This vast expanse of water (pick-up weir) was developed between 1905-1913 from two rivers. Due to silting and organic matter growth it had developed marshes, islands, shallow ponds and weeds. Along with the large trees on its shores it was a haven for birds.
I savoured the peace of Nandur - the birds perched on trees, swimming lazily in the water, circling over head in the balmy late evening winter sun.
I took the first Bird Pictures with my top end phone camera - frustrated by its limitations. But a couple of the better pictures and one video were good enough to be modestly proud of.
The fuse had been installed but not Lit. I still did not know the word “Birding”.
Nandur Birds
Black Drongo
Indian Pond Heron
Breen Bee Eater
Niraj's Birding Journey Begins
Introduction to Birding
I am based in Mumbai, India. I had become a Life Member of the Bombay Natural History Society in 2010. I kept receiving intimations of Nature Walks and other programmes but had never paid any attention until June 2024. A new Whatsapp titled “Bird Count Walk” caught my attention. It was free and asked for volunteers to go one Sunday a month for a 3-6 km walk in the Borivali National Park in small groups to “count” birds with an Expert Group leader. I met the criteria of fitness etc and decided to try it little knowing what I was entering into.
The First Bird Count Walk Preparations
A Communication sent in advance outlined the preparations:
- Date: 25th August 2024.
- Reporting time at Haathi Gate: 7:00 am
- Duration: 7:30 to 10:30 am.
- Items Required - binoculars, raincoat, light refreshment, water and Camera (optional), mobile with Internet connection.
- Much more challenging was the requirement to download and study the use of the eBird software through a youtube link.
It was learning to use eBird (and the associated Merlin Bird ID Software) that opened up the fascinating World of Birding
eBird
- Recording Bird calls
- Identifying them
- Counting them Specie wise
- Recording the data and the collation worldwide
Merlin Bird ID
- Taking Bird Photographs
- Identifying them
- Creating a collection
Did this really work? Was it so easy?
23rd August 2024: 2 days before the walk armed with the ebird software on my phone I went to test eBird around my Housing Complex which fortunately has a ring of trees around it.
DELIGHT: Within Minutes Black Kite identified. WOW! It works!
And 3 other birds in 15 minutes:
Common Myna
Alexandrine Parakeet
Common Tailor Bird
I had lived and walked this compound for 3 years, loved the trees around it, but missed this world living there!
I was hooked.
The First Forest Bird Count Walk
I decided to brave the rain and report at 7:00 am. Four co walkers had assembled on time. The weather was kind - the rain stopped during our 3.5-hour walk.
The walk itself was unforgettable experience. Surrounded by the lush green forest, flowing streams, and teeming wildlife felt like I was on vacation. I soon realized that Sighting/Listening to Birds required very slow walking with frequent short stops.
Running Merlin to identify Birds by Sound was exciting and we logged 21 birds during this outing. I was amazed by how the experienced birders identified most of them without software. There was so much to learn.
Sighting birds was a totally different story. The experienced birders in the group spotted 5 birds. I confess I could not see one even after they were pointed out. I realized that I needed to develop the "jungle vision" of the ancient African tribes.
The Magic of Birding .... A Dragon fly and a Karvy Flower
As we walked the leader kept pointing out some other points of interest:
- Karvy: A flower that blooms once in 8 years. How fortunate to see it on my first walk.
- A beautiful Dragon Fly
- A Teak plant - rub the leaf on your palm and a bright red color emerges.
- an exotic Mushroom
- a Crab
Birding brought the fresh air, lush greenery, flowing streams, and teeming wildlife to life as never before in so many nature-walks during all my 73 years.
Birding had become a Passion!
Backyard Birding - Bird Photgraphy
- I live in a flat on the 3rd floor of a housing complex in a heavily built up Suburb of Mumbai. We are very fortunate to have a ring of large trees along the complex boundary. This attracts a lot of birds from the Bombay National Park just across the highway which borders.
- Apart from capturing and identifying sounds thru Merlin on my daily evening stroll there were instances when I could not help noticing birds that were not the common crow/eagle/sparrow and started to capture their photographs with my Phone Camera.
- There were two phases of Learning:
Phase 1 - Phone Camera (Sept to January 2024)
I started experiencing some of the challenges of Bird Photography.
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Spotting a bird (Luck and Practice)
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Suitable position for a clear shot
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Stays in a position long enough
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Speed of talking shots – Open screen, aim, zoom, Shoot
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Limitations of Zoom and Camera – Blur
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Light effects etc
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Taking videos - a challenge I got the sparrows in one video.
I also learned that some birds were spotted at the same place around the same time.
Patience was the name of the game – to get GOOD shots. 4 of the best photos taken are shown as samples below.
Spot Breasted
Fantail
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Rock Pigeon (White)
Common Tailor Bird
Common Sparrow (Video)
Phase 2 - "Proper" Camera (Sept 2024 - Endless Journey)
I had realised that capturing beauty of birds in a high-quality photographs was for me the greatest joys of Birding. I envied the experienced birders in our walks their huge cameras, adjusted so easily to capture clear zoomed images of tiny birds so far away.
Selecting a “suitable” camera became necessary for “progressing” to the next stage in my birding journey. For a Photography novice this was a challenge. Cameras come with bewildering specifications, differing technologies, capabilities, operating complexity, and prices. The “Quality Capability” of any model depends upon the specific combination of all these factors that the chosen camera offers.
How?
- Google. Google, Google to isolate the Wood from the Trees:
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Survey well known camera brands (Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Canon etc) made me quickly realize that the variety and levels of sophistication and therefore price range were mind boggling.2
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Understanding the specifications and terms used and their criticality for Birding3.
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Assessing which camera was most suitable for my birding aspirations and budget.4.
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Clearing the confusion: Found a wonderfully clear logically compiled article. I recommend it highly for novices like me getting started, Click to access:
The Ultimate Guide: Choosing The Best Camera For Bird Photography - The Birdy Blog
The Step-by-Step approach to clear the fog is best summarized in the contents of this article:
Table Of Contents
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Why Choosing the Right Camera for Bird Photography is Important
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Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Camera for Bird Photography
5) Budget: Having isolated the models of suitable Cameras it was easy to shortlist a couple based upon my budget and availability in India.
6) Recommendations of experienced birders I met during my walks
This process led me to select NIKON COOLIX P950. The P1000 was had just been launched but I was warned that it is heavier and for beginners it was challenging – being much more sensitive to hand movements.
As an Engineer learning about cameras and photography was very interesting and perhaps at some stage I will include a section in this blog detailing some key technicalities.
2nd Birding Year - 1st October 2025 -30 September 2026
Blogroll Structure: This blogroll is henceforth going to be split year-wise. The birding year being defined as 12 months beginning 1st October. From this Blogpost all entries during the next 12 months will relate to my 2nd Birding Year 1st October 2025 - 1st October 2026
Introducing my Grand Daughter to Birding
The 2nd year of my Birding Journey will always be a special one. My 11-year old granddaughter, Kahani, took to birding and we now go together on many of the Birding walks.
How she got involved and developed a passion for it is a tale worth narrating.
How it started
The First Seed was sown accidentally. Several months before her first participation in a "Bird walk" one morning she was very upset and crying. I was alone at home with her. I remembered that she loves fiddling with anything with her hands. To take her mind off I asked her if she would like to try my new NIKON camera.
Off we went to the garden where within minutes her tears were forgotten as she learned the basics or photography: Hold Camera - Aim - Zoom - Focus - Shoot - Review and was clicking small and large objects.
What had taken me 3 months to figure out and do had taken her half an hour. And I was surprised now steady her hands were in avoiding "Camera Shake" in zoomed pictures.
Within a few days she shot this Bird's eye view of our 16-storey residential complex from the 21st floor of her room's balcony.
Introduction to Birding
From Camera to First Bird Count Walk
I took her through a similar sequence to the one I had gone through, ensuring that at each stage she was genuinely enjoying the previous stage.
- Bird Count Walk of the Bombay Natural History Society with experts in a small group which requires:
- Learning Ebird and Merlin Softwares
- Practising them in Backyard birding
- Getting up Early is the acid test. If a school going child will get un early on a Sunday morning then he/she is really keen. She overslept the first time but apologised profusely. The second time bright and cheerful, she arrived 5 minutes early ready to go.
That proved keenness.
The First Bird Count Walk (pictures above) was 3 hours long slow and with many stops to observe birds. It could exasperate many adults let alone children. But she enjoyed the walk, nature, sunrise, the changing colours of the forest and the birds and was keen to go birding again.
Camera and Binoculars: Practice on my camera and binoculars continued. One other impetus was provided to fan her interest. We got her a Canon Powershot A1200 on her birthday in September '25 to allow her to play around on her own with photography and discover the wonders of Photography.
The zoom available was Digital 4x and Optical 4x and therefore for birding it had limited use - but it has enough features to play around with.
Very importantly I had trained her to unpack and pack my camera carefully every time she used it emphasizing the importance of taking care of expensive kit. Now she had the chance to demonstrate that she could keep her camera in good shape before a better more expensive one was considered.
Kahani's first "Birding Walk" and Pictures*
TS Chakanya (18th October 2025) .. Photo by Kahani
Photo by Kahani
It was now October 2025. The peak Mumbai Birding Season (November to February) was due to start. It was time to take her for a "Birding Walk" where she was could experience all the joys and challenges of Birding - walking in the cool morning air amidst nature, listen to and identify birds by tweet (Merlin Software), spot birds in trees and the wetland, use binoculars, and learn to photograph them .
I chose the location carefully - TS Chankaya - where both Wetland and Land Birds are there - the former are easy to spot and photograph, the latter are more difficult and she would get exposed to them.
Two sample pictures taken by Kahani from this walk are included below. The complete "Haul" will be displayed in a later Blog Post in the coming days.
Indian Cormorant
Drying its Wings
Indian Pond Heron
Surveying the Scene
Birding - a Shared Experience
This is just the beginning ..... These walks together have continued and the pictures from each one will be displayed in Blogposts to follow.
More importantly sharing the Birding Experience with her has added several new exciting dimensions to my Birding Journey and our relationship.
