MigrantWatch is now a growing community with almost 1,000 participants spread across India. It would be wonderful if we knew a bit more about each other; we felt a good way to do this would be to carry Participant Profiles on the MigrantWatch Blog. This post is the first of these profiles. Read on to learn about Garima Bhatia, who is a very active MigrantWatch participant.

Garima Bhatia

Where do you live?
I live in Koramangala in Bangalore.

What do you do?
I work for General Motors R&D Lab in Bangalore. I am a chemical engineer and my specific area of research is control of particulate emissions from diesel vehicles.

When did you start watching birds?
Birdwatching was always an interest, but it started becoming a serious hobby and indeed a passion only a few years ago, around 2006.

Who would you consider your birding mentor?
My first birding mentor was my father who used to point out orioles and kingfishers from our house, when I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Kolkata. More recently, I have had the pleasure to meet and interact with several birders/photographers, from whom I have learnt a lot – Sumit Sen, Adesh Shivkar, Rajneesh Suvarna, to name a few.

Please describe a memorable birding experience.
We were on a family vacation in Coorg, and staying at a nice little home-stay. The residents of the property owned a large coffee plantation across the road. I was a newbie birder in those days and had borrowed my friend’s 8×40 binocs for this trip. Armed with these and my own Panasonic Lumix camera, I sneaked out at the crack of dawn. This was the first time I was birding alone, and Malabar Trogon was at the top of my wishlist.

The coffee plantation was almost like a forest – the thick canopy and lack of light made photography difficult, and I climbed one of the slopes looking for a good vantage point. Suddenly, a movement down below and a flash of rust attracted my attention, and my initial thought “coucal” turned into sheer delight as I looked through the binocs and found I was looking at my target species.

As I prepared to climb down for a better look at this beauty, to my surprise the trogon flew up towards my right and settled down a short distance away. I could scarcely contain my excitement, and crept towards it to get a shot of it from behind a tree. From then on, I was hooked – to birding and photography.

What is/are your favourite migrants?
Verditer flycatcher, black-naped oriole, greenish warbler, chestnut-tailed and rosy starlings visit the green patch outside my balcony every year, and I eagerly await their arrival every year.

What is your favourite place to watch migrants?
Besides birdwatching from my balcony, I have also enjoyed countless birding trips to Valley School and Nandi Hills. For water birds, I prefer exploring the numerous lakes off Kanakapura road, outside Bangalore.

Do you have any advice for beginning birdwatchers and naturalists?
Be a responsible bird-watcher and always keep the welfare of the birds first in mind. Don’t drive off-road if the habitat contains ground-nesting birds like larks, don’t chase birds in pursuit of that perfect shot, stay away from nests and nesting birds – in short, make sure that your actions don’t cause distress to the birds you are watching or photographing.

Why do you think people should care about birds and nature?
We in India are fortunate to have over 1200 species of birds, but many of these are critically endangered due to loss of habitat. Birds are one of the daily reminders of our interconnectedness and dependence on nature. Humanity has already lost several species due to our thoughtless actions, we should learn from the mistakes of the past and make efforts to preserve what we have. This article is a grim reminder of what the west has gone through, and the increased need for “citizen naturalists”.

You can read more about Garima’s birding trips on her Blog.
Garima can be reached at garima.bhatia at gmail.com. Her MigrantWatch reports can be seen here.