Value of Birds that Live in Our Surroundings

Among mature boys and girls, it is a common belief that seeing a pair of myna birds is an indication of good love for the whole day.

For one it is the indication of meeting the other, either boy or the girl. This belief prevails in many parts of India including Jharkhand. If by chance, you spot a single myna, it is sure that your day is going to be alone on the whole. It comes true most of the time.

But, if you spot a pair of myna your day is going to be pleasant and it is sure that you are going to accompany your beloved for the whole time with lots of love and closeness.

I have seen boys and girls of sprouting youth searching for myna birds and yes, the myna bird has the power to make their mood good or bad. But I am of the different opinion – wait a little and after some time you will be able to see the pair.

As I have observed mynas don’t move alone. They remain confident about their love for each other and often move up to some distance from their mate while searching the food.

After some time if one bird feels lonely it calls the other, and no sooner than it calls, the other joins it flying from any one direction. However, through this narration you see that mynas have something to do with the sorrow or happiness of our young boys and girls bearing this concept in mind.

We cannot measure in terms of money when we see birds. They make our surroundings lively and pleasant and remove our loneliness. They make us happy since early morning till late at night.

Owls at night screech to indicate that they have spotted something. They screech even when a thief tries to enter into your house or stands in untoward position.

Sparrows fight in the air and even fall down on the ground while fighting close to each other becoming an easy prey to the nearby dog. But you don’t allow him to do that crime. Sparrows and drongos present beautiful scenes while preying insects in the sky during rainy season.

Flocks of migratory birds offer us lots of happiness and amazements while flying in the sky high in a particular pattern.

Some birds fly in groups during nights making sweet sound while making a pattern. For one who loves birds, such scenes are overwhelming. We can learn much more from them and from their behaviour.

Dozens of pigeons assemble in a very small area to pick up grains spread by a bird lover or by a religious man or woman.

The tailor birds start singing early in the morning showing that it is protecting its nest nearby. It gives us a wakeup call on the other hand. Its wagging tail offers other type of amusement to us.

Cocks do the job of telling us the time and indicating that the night is ending now and we should wake up.

Thus, a wonderful world of birds exists around us and this world forms integral part of our lives and culture.

These values of birds cannot be explained in economic terms. But there are values of birds that can be explained in economic terms as well.

Many small birds eat away aphids and larvae of insects that cause serious loss to our crops and horticulture. If these birds were not there, we might face considerable losses in production.

 If we dig a number of sticks in our crop fields that would serve as singing posts for birds the birds may sit on those twigs and search down the insects in our fields.

Thus, birds can eat away insect pests of our crops saving our money that we may expend on purchasing pesticides.

Many birds including egrets walk behind ploughs in the field and eat away insects that come up of the soil during tilling of the land.

Many birds sit on the bodies of       our cattle and eat away lice and other insects that harm to our animals. Some birds eat our grains too. There are birds that punch into our fruits and destroy them.

 If we are in a position to calculate profit and loss, we may see that profits are greater. Birds eat away countless small mammals and insects that harm our crops. Owls eat away most of the field rats that cause serious losses to our crops.

Some birds are scavengers or garbage gatherers. Vulchers, Gulls and crows eat away lots of decomposing biological matter that may otherwise serve as breeding habitats for germs of diseases. Gulls fly over waterways and perform their duty of scavenging at the shore.

Innumerable seeds of grasses are eaten up by birds. Grass species are most harmful enemies of our crops. If birds were not there, the crop of weeds might not have allowed our crops to grow and reproduce. In brief, farmers are always indebted to numerous birds that eat away seeds of weeds.

Now, we don’t have as much number of birds as we had some decades ago. They have nearly left our cities and in villages too very low number of birds exists. Let us plan to protect and propagate our birds by developing different plans and strategies.

Feature Image : Mandip Karane