Chirps of a Forest Bird

ಇವತ್ತು ದೀಪಾವಳಿ ರಜೆಗೆಂದು ಮನೆಗೆ ಬಂದಾಗ , ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡು ಮೂರು ಸೌಂಡ್ ರೆಕಾರ್ಡರ್ ಗಳು ಬಂದು ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದವು.  ಅವು ಏಕೆ ಬಂದಿದೆ ಎಂದು  ಕುತೂಹಲದಿಂದ ಕೇಳಿದಾಗ,ಈ ಉಪಕರಣಗಳನ್ನು ಜೀವ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ Dr. ಕೆ. ವಿ ಗುರುರಾಜ ಅವರು ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು, ಇವು ಕಾಡನ್ನು ಕೇಳುವ  ಹೊಸ ಅಧ್ಯಯನದ  ಪರಿಕರಗಳೆಂದು ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಯಿತು. ಆದರೆ ಕಾಡು ಕೇಳುವುದೆಂದೆಂದರೆ? ಕಾಡನ್ನು ನೋಡಬಹುದೆ ಹೊರತು, ಕೇಳಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದಲ್ಲವೇ?     ಕೇಳಬಹುದು. ನೀವು ಎರಡು ನಿಮಿಷ ಹೊರಗಿನ ಪರಿಸರಕ್ಕೆ ಕಿವಿಗೊಟ್ಟು  ಕೇಳಿ. ಅದು ಮರುಭೂಮಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದರು ಯಾವುದಾದರೂ ಸದ್ದು ಕೇಳಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದು ವಾಹನಗಳ ಸದ್ದೇ ಆಗಿರಬಹುದು. ಅಥವಾ ಹಕ್ಕಿಗಳ ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿಯೇ ಆಗಿರಬಹುದು. ಅಥವಾ ಎಲೆಗಳೆ ಆಗಿರಬಹುದು. ಇಂತಹ ಸದ್ದುಗಳನ್ನು soundscapes ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ.                ಹೀಗೆ ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಗುವ ಸದ್ದುಗಳನ್ನು ರೆಕಾರ್ಡ್  ಮಾಡಿ ಅದರ ಮೂಲಕ ಕಾಡನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೊಂದ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಕೋನದಿಂದ ನೋಡಬಹುದದಲ್ಲವೇ? ಇದಕ್ಕೇ ನಾನು ಕಾಡನ್ನು ಕೇಳಬಹುದು ಎಂದಿದ್ದು. ನಾನು ಮೊದಲೊಮ್ಮೆ camera traps ಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಕಾಡಿನ ಚಲನವಲನಗಳನ್ನು ಗಮನಿಸುವ ಬಗಗೆ  ಬರೆದಿದ್ದೆ. ಅದು ಕಾಡು ನೋಡುವ ಪರಿ. ಇದು ಕಾಡು ಕೇಳುವ ಪರಿ.  ಕಳೆದ ವಾರವಷ್ಟೆ ಈ  soundscapes  ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಓದಿ...

  How do leaves have a specific pattern? Why does lighting appears in a specific shapes which looks like tree branches ? (at least it looked like that to me :P) Why do succulents looks like a geometry diagram? Well, it’s all science. These are called Fractals. Now, what exactly are fractals? According to Encyclopedia of Britannica, ” Fractal , in mathematics, any of a class of complex geometric shapes that commonly have fractional dimension”. In other words, Fractals are the repeated patterns.They can be found anywhere. From lightings to leaves, these are present. And as the encyclopedia said, it is a part of Maths – which is a great example for how maths can be applied in our day-to-day life. Of course, they can be found in every part of the science, from astronomy to computer science. But I’ll talk about fractals in nature today. Back in 1918, a mathematician called Felix Hausdorff introduced this concept. We can find these almost anywhere. Look at a tree. The branches have ...

  Some call me Ganga, some call me Narmada. Some named me Nile and some says Congo. I go by many names, but I am same everywhere…With different forms and different names, I’m the water you drink… I’m Aghanashini for some, and Amazon for some. I’m  nehir  in Turkey, and  nadi  in India.I’m part of many lives and heritages- and I’m universal… I don’t only nurture humans, but also lacks of other creatures… There are colourful birds, jumping frogs, and quirky fishes… and tonnes of other. I’ve got a huge family called earth. And in that huge family, humans are members too… members-not rulers. Photo by  Sergio Capuzzimati  on  Unsplash Today, I am all polluted. You seems to thing I belong to you only… but no. There are many other creatures living in me, not only you. You dump your wastes in water, it may be an easy deal for you. But not for animals live with me. Your plastics are eaten by the fishes here. Your pollution is making the coral reefs in sea ...

  It was back in my 4th grade. I was walking back from school. Suddenly a flock of different birds passed over my head shouting loudly. There were 2-3 woodpeckers, bee-eaters, and 4 other types of birds. I wondered, how birds of different species can become a flock… They weren’t fighting at all. Instead, they were flying and resting on trees for some seconds and flying again. After I reached home, I asked my father about it. He said it was called mixed hunting. A (rowdy) bird called Drongo chased all these birds and created a group of various birds and hunted with them! For the 9-year-old me, Drongo was a dominating bird who is rude to other birds… But now, these drongos are my favorite. Especially racket-tailed drongo – which has long tail streamers and ivory black feathers. After learning about group hunting, I read several books and articles about drongos which made me see them as villains of the bird society. These birds are extremely clever. They can mimic other birds’ calls a...

  You might be wondering why this banyan tree is talking. Well, because it is time to talk. I’ve been in this world for almost 200 years. I was born in the Asiatic cholera pandemic time. And now I am dying in the time of covid pandemic time. Between these two pandemics, I’ve seen amazing changes. I’ve been the witness to many historical incidents. I’ve seen your growth, your developments, disruptions, your success, and your failures… Ah, it feels like, yesterday, you humans invented your first airplanes. But now, thousands of planes fly over my head every day. When I was born, this place was a complete forest. I had so many friends to talk with. Now, I’m alone. Around me, there are shops, malls, and huge buildings. It was just yesterday, you were arguing whether plants are lives or not. But now, you are developing devices to talk with plants! It feels like yesterday, you people were talking about first space travel. Now, I’m hearing things about living on Mars. You developed very f...

  25th May, 2050 ”Why Areca nuts in our farms aren’t growing ?” I asked. ”I don’t know..” My big brother, Mahesh sighed. I am Mira , a 9 year old girl from the farming background. But now, me and my 3 friends were wondering why there no enough crops in their farms. From last year. the whole area didn’t had enough crops to feed on. What happened? ”Let’s find out! Let’s go and ask someone” Ramu suggested. He seemed pretty excited. ”What are you going ask anyway?” Chaitra asked, crossing her arms. ”Let us see what they say” Mahesh said. Chaitra nodded. We all went to find the best person to answer – our grandmother. After searching for a while, we finally found her! You know where she is? Near the Mango tree! But this year, we don’t have any mangoes. There are three other people with her. They looked like they were some officers. What she’s doing there anyway? ”Grandma?” Chaitra called. Grandma turned at us. The officer-looking people turned too. What they are doing here? ”What are yo...

  I am a whale. A completely normal baby blue whale.And I am here to tell my story. Well, our kind is known to be the biggest mamal on the earth. No matter how big we are in size, we are not living happily. Once upon a time, there were many whales in the ocean. Not now. I see my friends getting killed every day. I don’t know when it’s my turn. My mother died last month, she ate some wierd-algae-like-things( I heard it is called plastic), thinking of food and died. I am lonely now. I heard that another blue whale which lived far.. far away from here, was hunted by humans. illustration by  Yulia Ivashchuk  , dribble One day, when I was very small, I saw a little sea turtle eating a piece of plastic. A week after it was dies. Why this plastic is coming to oceans and killing us? Is plastic is a monster? I’ve seen humans dumping it into the ocean. These days, all the marine animals are dying. My mother always use to tell me ”Never swim near the humans” and when I didn’t obyed ...

Hello Everyone, HAPPY EARTH DAY! Today my article about western ghats got published in 'Assembly' , a Malala fund's newsletter for girls! Here's the article: I was born in the middle of dense forests in the Western Ghats, a chain of mountains that runs along the western coast of India. The lives of my community here are woven between the valleys, forests and mountains. The Western Ghats protect our people from floods and other natural calamities that affect coastal areas. I love the greenery and liveliness of Western Ghats. They are very special to me. But over the past few years, I’ve seen climate change threaten everything I love. The Western Ghats and the futures of the people who live there are now at stake due to flooding, drought, deforestation and the building of dams and nuclear power plants. When I was 5, the rain usually started in June. But when I was 10, the rain started coming too late, causing a water crisis. In 2019, we had too much rain and floods. And n...

This year 2021, I went to a famous riverbank in our area. The whole place looked like it has been a trash bin. The two sides of the road were filled with trash. I asked one of my friends about this and she said it was all because of careless tourists and some people who arrange parties on that riverbank.  Why are people's mindset is like this? Many of us want to change, but no one wants to change. Our elders are acting blind about our future, our earth's future. You may say that changing a bit cannot make a huge difference. But we have examples on behalf of us. You may say our economy will collapse. But, for you, Is over consumerism is a more great deal than our future? Earth doesn't need humans. If humans go extinct, the earth won't lose anything. But what if earth became non-liveable for humans in the future? Where we should go? To Mars?   Our generation is not asking anything bigger than clean and breathable air, drinkable water, and greener earth to live on! The Wes...