–Ann Sam Swaras
Living in a campus as large as NISER’s, with much of the 300 acres relatively untouched, gives us incredible opportunities to observe wildlife. Our backyard hosts incredible diversity, and sometimes a simple walk on a nice evening can yield some amazing finds.
It was sometime in July 2024 that Joel invited me to go birding on campus. We had gone out in the evening with our cameras and binoculars to look at ground-nesting birds and had wandered our way to the massive cricket ground. We walk some distance into the ground, looking for lapwings, when one of us suddenly spots movement – a small, round, brownish bird moved in the short bushy grass to our side.
We moved closer cautiously and spotted yet another one, a blue and brown bird with white markings on its head and throat, next to another brown and mottled bird! We quickly took a few photographs before the pair ran into the taller, thicker grass at the end of the field. Joel identified them as quails, and we realised we never had a record of any bird that looked like that from within campus.
We moved closer cautiously and spotted yet another one, a blue and brown bird with white markings on its head and throat, next to another brown and mottled bird! We quickly took a few photographs before the pair ran into the taller, thicker grass at the end of the field. Joel identified them as quails, and we realised we never had a record of any bird that looked like that from within campus.
Later, we further identified them as blue-breasted quails (Synoicus chinensis – also called king quails or asian blue quails). These small, round birds prefer the plains and grassy areas and can only be spotted when darting out of the thickets. Our record is the third-ever record of the bird in Odisha and the first in over 50 years!!
Finds such as these remind us of the importance of going out and looking for interesting things. What looks like just some overgrown patches often hides the greatest surprises – and to uncover them, all you need to do is look carefully, and a little bit of luck on your side.