BANGALORE: It was a family friend's son who got her interested in studying bird behaviour. "He was studying MSc (zoology) and tracking the nesting behaviour of a bird in our garden," said Samira Agnihotri. She was three years old then and sat with him to observe the bird's nest. Now, the 31-year-old conservationist has just submitted her thesis on the racket-tailed drongo, a brilliant mimic.
Currently with the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science under Rohini Balakrishnan, Samira has an interesting academic background. She has done her Master's in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences after finishing BSc (zoology) from her home state Gujarat. During her post-graduation, she started looked closely into bird songs. Her research was in BR Hills which is home to 250 bird species. A microphone, recorder (for acoustic study in the wild) and a pair of binoculars in hand, she recorded 110 different bird songs. "Initially, it was a little difficult as I couldn't distinguish one bird song from another. It's much easier now as I have trained ears," she said. A bilingual CD (Kannada and English) also followed -- a collection of 100 bird songs, which she hopes to distribute to school children to initiate them into conservation. Tale of the drongos
"On an early morning walk in the forest, a Soliga tribal, who'd accompany me to the BR Hills forest every day, suggested I do my PhD on the racket-tailed drongo. He said this bird had done its PhD on all birds and I must do my PhD on it. That stayed at the back of my mind and I studied it seven years for my doctorate," said Samira. She said, "They use mimicry to communicate with other drongos and to interact with other bird species." She said it's a dynamic relationship and not all mimicry is to take undue advantage. "It mimics woodpeckers and sits by its side as it makes its nest and in the process disturbs insects. These insects are food for the drongos," she explained.
Also, drongos protect other birds when they're chased by bigger animals. "My thesis has raised more questions about this bird's behaviour than answer them. I plan to look at the impact of climate change on their nesting behaviour and population," she said. Samira's great-grandfather was Jim Corbett's contemporary who wrote three books on wildlife in the regional languages and her father would show her those notes when she was a child. She and her techie husband Shishir Misra love to take trips into the wild whenever possible. "My work depends on the season, permission from the forest department, etc, so when I am away, my husband has to suffer my long absences," she said, adding, "I plan to do post-doctoral research on the drongo as it intrigues me a lot."
