Interview | Ornithologist Asad Rahmani on his new book ‘Where Have the Birds Gone?’

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Conservationist and ornithologist Asad Rahmani in Gulmarg sanctuary; species of birds from elsewhere. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Noted conservationist and ornithologist Asad Rahmani’s latest book, Where Have the Birds Gone? Empty Nests. Quiet Skies. One Question (Indian Pitta, an imprint of Juggernaut Books), is dedicated to lost species: “the mountain quail, pink-headed duck and numerous other species that were exterminated, with an apology from humankind”. This sombre beginning sets the tone of his nuanced book.

Where Have the Birds Gone? illuminates “the scale of the crisis confronting birds today — a crisis unfolding not with a single dramatic blow, but through the steady erosion of safe skies, quiet habitats and the fragile continuity on which avian life depends,” writes the Lucknow-based Rahmani, former director of Bombay Natural History Society and author of 27 books and 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

The book begins by focusing on 14 of India’s most threatened birds, including the white-bellied heron, green munia, the Bengal florican and Jerdon’s courser, evaluating the factors that threaten their existence. These include habitat loss and fragmentation, alien species, wind farms, power lines, dams, illegal pet trade, pesticides, poaching, glass buildings, and free-ranging stray dogs, which have become apex predators in many ecosystems, according to the 76-year-old. “In India, dogs are reported to have attacked 80 wild species, including 31 threatened species, four of which are critically endangered,” he writes, throwing in a sobering statistic. “In Ladakh, for instance, free-ranging dogs kill nearly 60 per cent of the chicks of the black-necked crane, a species listed by the IUCN as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction.”

The book is full of dispiriting facts such as this. For instance, skylarks have declined by nearly 80% while Indian rollers have seen a 30% decline in 12 years; according to BirdLife International and the IUCN, 1,256 species — about 11.5% of all birds — are currently threatened with extinction, and fewer than 120 great Indian bustards persist, largely confined to two pockets in Rajasthan.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. “I believe that I am an optimist (you cannot be a conservationist without being one),” he writes, citing success stories like the greater adjutant, painted stork, and spot-billed pelican, before offering conservation solutions rooted in “common sense rather than technological wizardry or cutting-edge science”.

Some of these solutions include expanding protected areas, conservation breeding, undergrounding power lines along major migratory routes and reducing free-ranging dog populations, states Rahmani, who firmly believes this. “If India truly aspires to be a Vishwaguru, a teacher to the world, then leadership must extend beyond economics and geopolitics.