People turn to nature, as skies turn blue

HYDERABAD: Muhammad Ramzan Kumbhar, a retired headmaster at government primary school in Pangrio Town of Badin district has adopted a new hobby to spend time during lockdown. He feeds the common birds around his neighbourhood.

It helps him in dealing with anxiety, which many people have been facing since the government imposed lockdown to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Earlier, I thought many birds have disappeared completely from our environment due to several reasons, including the youth’s hostile approach towards wildlife, poaching, and excessive use of chemical input in agriculture crops, along with air and noise pollution all around.

But since I started this hobby, I observed that many species not only still exist, they need to be loved and cared for,” Kumbhar said.

Recalling the past, he said flocks of birds used to frequent the trees in his courtyard. Now, he has put earthen pots for water and different grains in the courtyard that attract common crows, house sparrows, doves, common myna, pigeons, and bulbuls. “I bring discarded rice from rice mills near the town and filled the pots twice a day since the lockdown started,” he said.

He pointed out that since the lockdown; “the sky has turned blue from grey”, a phenomenon that has been noticed almost everywhere across the globe.

Many people in Kumbhar’s neighbourhood, like him thought the birds had disappeared. But taking inspiration from the retired headmaster, many of them have now started feeding these avian urban dwellers. “It helps in staying calm too,” he said.

Dr Shankar Lal Maheshwari, a medical practitioner in the same Pangrio town said his family always spared some amount to feed birds and stray animals in the town streets. “Now, I have taken this opportunity to feed more birds and listen to their soothing chirps nearby. It is relaxing in the current tense situation,” he admitted.

Many people in the neighbourhood seem nature-friendly and offer love to the birds, arranging food and water for all the creatures, birds and insects. Some people put some sugar under the trees in their courtyard for ants, believing they would bring blessings to their home.

Amidst the prolonged lockdown, people have started noticing nature more than they did in the routine hustle bustle of life. Birds, commonly thought to have disappeared from areas inhabited by humans, have started reappearing, like the koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus). Many thought the koels were now only in the fruit orchards or thick groves, as they rarely heard its distinct call any more.

Similarly, parrots, black and grey partridges, peacock, doves, and waterfowl had also disappeared from many villages. Some migrated to safer groves or wetlands.

However, in some places, as humans started putting out feeders, a few species appeared out of hiding to the delight of many.

Sulmen G Abro, a pioneer of planting groves and restoring forests in Shahdadpur, Sanghar district under his Sindh Agriculture Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation (SAFWCO), said he has also taken a step to arrange pearl mullet, rice, wheat and pulses for the birds at his grove and agriculture field.

He too said that it was a calming activity, and sitting in nature was soothing under the current situation. “Birds too feel safe because there are no hunters or poachers around to trap them,” he added.

Sindh Wildlife Department officials believe that some people might have shown love to nature, but the impacts of lockdown might appear after many months, as the situation was not favourable on the whole. “Use of pesticides still continues, contaminating grain crops and water ponds, which disturbs the lifecycle of different species.”

But the officials said the situation seemed hopeful, as people have come out to offer food and water to wildlife.

There are 420 species of birds, both common and uncommon, including waterfowls, which are found in different habitats. A variety of aquatic ecosystems attract a large number of different birds in Sindh. However, urbanisation has degraded many of these natural habitats like groves and forests. So the species are now confined to smaller areas, where they feel safe.

Irshad Umer Gandro from Keenjhar Lake has observed how hunters covered the entire lake under hundreds of nets to poach migratory birds during winter. These poachers usually come to install nets in different areas in October, where these waterfowls land on hearing decoy recordings and get trapped. Hundreds of waterfowls get trapped in the lakes from November to March every year.

Gandro said these freshwater lakes have become cruel fields for birds, where birds are trapped under nets and then sold to the market for a meagre amount.

This practice is common in the natural wetlands of Sindh as well, where poachers, in connivance with local wildlife department officials continue this cruel business of trapping migratory birds.

With the shutdown in place all over the province, these birds have now gotten some respite from hunters and poachers. Feeders placed by people in villages and towns might also add to the much needed breathing space for these birds.

Nature conservationists believe that the recent phenomenon has provided people an opportunity to connect back with nature, which was the only way out to save earth, the common home for wildlife and humans both.