The Hindu Business Line : Railwayman's `Photo Guide to Kolkata Birds' released

Avian love
Mr Garg said some of the best works of as many as 24 wildlife photographers from all over the country also had been incorporated in the book, which includes some 70 per cent of the birds (covered in the book) sighted in most parts of India. Efforts had been made to include photographs from Kolkata as far as possible.

Kolkata , Jan. 11

Despite Singurs and Nandigrams, Bengal is still a happening place. And Kolkata, true to its adventurous spirit, never fails to surprise anybody.

A serving senior railway officer, Mr J.M. Garg, in his spare time, has created a first such comprehensive `Photo guide to The Birds of Kolkata', with over 70 per cent of the photographs captured by him in his own camera.

A non-commercial voluntary effort, the Photo Guide displays, in breathtaking colour, some 112 species of birds, with a single page devoted to a species of a bird surviving in different habitats.

Introducing the book at a launch function here on Thursday, Mr Garg, who is a nature lover and confirmed trekker, informed that Bill Harvey, the renowned ornithologist and author of several books on birds of India, contributed to the compilation in a big way by checking the data on all the birds, lending authenticity to the contents.

Mr Garg said some of the best works of as many as 24 wildlife photographers from all over the country also had been incorporated in the book, which includes some 70 per cent of the birds (covered in the book) sighted in most parts of India. Efforts had been made, he clarified, to include photographs from Kolkata as far as possible.

He said efforts had also been made to highlight the common calls of the birds along with their typical behaviour, specific identifying features, food habits, typical habitats, nesting, etc, as far as possible and practicable. Priced at Rs 299, with discounts available, the book, he said, was more than a coffee table variety, and had been made affordable to the common man, particularly children, for educational purpose.

Launching the Photo Guide, the West Bengal Forest Minister, Mr Ananta Roy, while applauding the painstaking efforts of a serving bureaucrat to bat for the birds, said the State Government had already mounted major conservation efforts to save endangered species such as vultures and the fabled Royal Bengal tigers.

According to Mr V.K. Raina, General Manager, South Eastern Railway, which employs Mr Garg, such conservation work has already being taken up by SER at the Santragachi Jheel, an acknowledged wetland in the State where migratory birds come in during seasons.

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Railwayman's `Photo Guide to Kolkata Birds' released

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