Hoopoe

The Hoopoe is slightly brown in color with black and white strips running across its back and wings. It has a crest on its head and a long, slender beak. 

It moves about in the trees and open grasslands and often opens its crest in the form of a fan. It is quite common in this region and can be easily spotted.

Tourism and its effects on the environment and wildlife.

On a recent visit to a popular hill station, it was saddening and frustrating to note the adverse impact of tourism on the natural environment. The hill station is not named. However, I am sure the readers would understand that it could be any of the hill stations or beach resorts that they have visited.

Why do we visit these regions? Humans have always appreciated nature. We in India worship the natural elements – Jal, Vayu, Agni (water, air, fire), including the earth and trees. We enjoy our visits to hill resorts, national parks, waterfalls and the beaches. These places are regions of natural beauty and ought to be preserved for the generations to come. These do not belong to us, to be enjoyed for a short period. All of us should be concerned about the destruction taking place due to excessive and reckless tourism.

Tourism exerts undue pressure on the environment and the delicate balance in the ecosystem. Activities such as tiger/ lion safaris, bird watching, wildlife photography, actually are an intrusion into animal and bird territories. These activities directly affect mammals and birds present in the area. In almost all resorts and picnic spots, large groups of people gather during the monsoon and on holidays. They stop-over and park at any open space on the way, to rest and eat and have noisy parties to scare away the birds and animals. In the process, they invariably litter the place with plastic bags, thermocole plates/ glasses, chocolate / chips wrappers and left-over food. They also scatter small packets of gutka (tobacco + areca nut) carelessly, all over the place. The place soon piles up with garbage. This in turn attracts pests like flies, rodents, pigs and stray dogs. Presence of these pests adversely affects the habits of the wild animals and birds in the region and they are forced out from their habitats into ever decreasing areas of the forest.

There is also a great demand for exotic meat by these tourists, which is met by poaching, hunting and trapping of birds like quails, partridges and small mammals like the hare, deer, wild hogs, etc. This leads to the species being wiped out from these regions which defeats the entire purpose of tourism. It is like scoring a self-goal or getting out hit-wicket. Tourism also leads to an increase in the market for curios and souvenirs and include nails /tooth of the bears, leopards; feathers of colorful birds like peacocks, rollers, and kingfishers. There is also a market for furs, skins and other parts of the animals.

Increased use of land, water and forest resources for building hotels, resorts and restaurants causes further strain on the environment. This soon results in creation of large complexes, which all of us know are characterized by high population density and resultant high consumption of energy and generation of large quantities of waste. The long term adverse effects of such urbanization are well known. All of us have a role to play in preserving the environment for the future generations.  We cannot stop tourism. However, we can we surely contribute towards environment conservation by reducing our needs and consumption of retail goods. We can stop littering, stop using plastic bags and disposable water bottles, reduce noise pollution and use of motor vehicles and do our best to preserve nature. It is all up to us – respect nature, save our environment, save ourselves.

Pale Harrier

The Pale Harrier is pale grey in color and is smaller than the common Pariah Kite. It has black wing-tips and is very graceful in flight, which is typical of birds of prey. Spotting the harrier is quite difficult, as it moves constantly from one area to another. However, it can easily be identified from its call, kikee, kikeeee. Its presence is noticeable by the nervous flight and calls of smaller birds - like the Bulbul, Myna, Sparrow - in the area. It can be seen in this region during the winter. 

For these photographs, I had positioned myself with the camera the moment its calls were heard and was lucky that it came within reasonably close distance, within a few minutes.

Pied Bushchat

It has a jet black body with white patches on wings and abdomen. It is mainly found in thickly wooded areas surrounding human inhabitation. This photograph was taken using a Fuji HS-10.

 
Mining and its effects on the environment
Mining has been in the news in the recent past for several reasons, chief among them being the huge profits that a group of brothers has amassed from this activity.
Mining for precious metals, iron and coal is certainly a profitable business and humans have been involved in it for ages by excavating ore. [The rock from which the precious metals/minerals are extracted is termed ore]. Gold, for example, has been mined for centuries for its value and is widely used in ornaments from times immemorial. Gold mining is mainly done from underground mines, as against coal and iron ore, which are mined from open-cast mines.
Open cast mines are an environment hazard, leading to destruction of the environment on a large scale. In open-cast mining, explosives are extensively used to blast open the earth’s surface to get at the ore. This leads to large open craters and a barren surface, devoid of all types of vegetation. Examples of these types of mines are the iron ore mines in Bellary. Additional damage to the environment results from the transportation of the ore to processing stations or mills, where the minerals are extracted.
Examples of underground mines are the Jharia coal mines, Singbhum copper mines and the Hutti gold mines (Raichur district). Amongst the mines, coalmines are the most dangerous and accident prone. The coal mines are also a safety hazard due to poisonous and inflammable gases like methane. The underground rock in coal mines is not hard or solid enough to sustain the weight and as one goes deeper into the earth, the pressure on the mine walls causing rock bursts, sometimes causing entire portions of the mine to cave-in. Gold mines are relatively safe for the miners as the rock is solid and strong enough to with stand tremendous levels of pressure, though there have been several reported instances of rock bursts in gold mines. A widely used technique to strengthen the walls, is to fill in excavated portions of the mines with waste tailings
Gold mines may be safer for the miners. However, they do harm the environment. Extraction of gold involves use of sodium cyanide and the wastes after extraction [spoils or tailings], are often discharged in isolated areas. Very soon, these spoils accumulate into huge dumps of waste lands. These artificial hills are an eyesore and they threaten the hydrological [water] cycle by contaminating ground water sources. Ecological hazards are rarely understood and as the mines are mainly owned by public sector bodies, the hazards are ignored by pollution control authorities. Over a period of time, rain and wind tend to loosen up the artificial hills of tailings and lead to spreading of waste matter. The waste ultimately finds its way into our waterways, streams and rivers, choking the natural drainages and rendering the soil infertile. We would soon be on a "Road to hell"; like Chris Rea says in his popular song. Other effects include, an overall increase in the surface temperatures in the region and reduced fresh water supplies.
Thus, there is an urgent need for effective legislation and monitoring of the ecological hazards of mining. Obtaining environment certifications like ISO 14001, must be made mandatory for all mining organizations. Government bodies, like the pollution control boards and the forest department, must play an active part in assisting the mines in reducing hazardous discharges and in promoting afforestation of the affected areas. Part of the profits should be invested in sustaining a green environment. Lets hope the government is listening.
PS: I would thankfully accept readers' comments and suggestions in making this blog more interesting and educative. Please leave your comments and suggestions. If you wish to upload your bird photographs, you may write to me. Thanks and until next week, bye!

Oriental White-eye

Oriental White-eye.

The white eye is quite uncommon in these regions. It is mostly found in wooded areas and feeds on fruits and berries.
As the name suggests, it has a white circular band surrounding its eyes and thus is easily recognizable.

Use less plastic:
Here is an incident which highlights the need for change in attitude of the educated, well-to-do  class of people regarding the use (misuse) of plastic. On my weekend visit to a shopping mall, the gentleman ahead of me made his purchases with his credit card. Upon being asked whether he requires a plastic carry-bag or not, (these are now chargeable due a recent notification from the Indian government), he commented that he would take one and did not mind paying for it. We can only hope that this will change over a period of time and slowly, but surely there will be reduction in usage of plastic bags. Ultimately, conservation of the environment depends on our attitudes towards nature. It is only by changing ourselves that we can take that first step forward to a better world.