Wildlife in Agriculture

Animals can be found everywhere...

Hey friends,

Greetings from somewhere up in the Himalayas!

I am currently in the alpine zone of Himachal Pradesh, one of the few states in India blessed to host the tallest mountain range in the world—the Himalayas. I’m here doing the famous Buran Ghati trek.

I haven’t explored Himachal Pradesh as much as Uttarakhand. Yet the landscape also twinkles with its own magic.

I’ve said this a million times, but I will repeat it again: the Himalayas is one of the greatest landscapes in the world.

Anyway, for this week, here’s a story from the other end of the country—Kerala. Here, I recount a story from when I was strolling through the agricultural fields of this green state.

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My movements were furtive; one sudden jerk could scare them of. My legs were knee-deep in the mud, trembling. A camera lay in my hands. The lens hovered right over the soil while my back was bent at an unnatural angle. My jeans were torn, my head dripped with sweat, and my body was thoroughly exhausted.

A few feet ahead of me was an enormous congregation of egrets daintily probing the mud.

I was in the rice fields of Calicut, Kerala, trying to photograph the egrets that gathered there. I took tremendous patience to make them comfortable with my presence. Like most birds, egrets are very skittish. They perceive the slightest actions as dangerous and quickly make their escape.

The egret is a heron found across much of the Indian subcontinent. They typically have pure white plumage, with some species changing colours for breeding. They are resident breeders, living either communally or alone.

It had taken a lot of effort to get into that position. When I first arrived at the scene in the morning, I made a beeline for the birds. But once I got within 20 feet of the closest bird, it got spooked and quickly flapped towards the far end of the eld. The other birds took note of this disturbance, scuttling away and regarding me with a distrustful glance. My approach was too direct. These birds aren’t so easily won over; I had to work to gain their trust. I had to prove that I meant no harm.

Changing tactics, I decided to adopt the “lost wallet technique”. I acted as if I’d dropped my purse somewhere and I was trying to find it. I paid no attention to the birds, zig-zagging around them as I pretended to search. My path was arbitrary, but with every turn, I inched my way closer to birds. The idea was to get them accustomed to my presence and let me approach them close.

After two hours of aimlessly wandering about, I found myself right in the middle of the flock. There, I stayed put, sinking into the wet soil. Having won their trust, I pulled out my camera and began clicking away. My eyes never left my viewfinder, and I lost all sense of time. Five hours went by as the sun climbed high into the sky. I perspired profusely until my t-shirt was matted with sweat.

But then the farmer in whose field I was in came along. I can only imagine his bewilderment when he found, among his usual audience of egrets, a tall, lanky boy covered in mud with a camera in his hands. I am sure he had never come across such a sight before! He strolled right up to me, frightening the birds I had worked so hard to win over.

They all immediately burst into flight. Some even skimmed past my legs as they flapped away in fright. Their bodies felt soft against my skin. It was a swirling mass of white feathers, a vortex of hundred birds within which I stood, too awe-struck to speak.

One of my favourite egret shots

As I looked at the avian chaos around me, I thought about how the scene demonstrated a phenomenon occurring across the world—animals living in human-modified landscapes.

Over millennia, humans have been colonising wild spaces and converting them into agricultural lands. This is a story all across the world, one that everyone knows.

But few know about the animals that have adapted to these modified landscapes. Some of them have even proliferated in these spaces. Egrets represent one of several creatures that now thrive in human-modified habitats.

Agricultural lands are one of the best places to observe wildlife in India. Unlike in the US and other countries, in India, tourists freely walk in most of the National parks or Tiger Reserves (where most of the wildlife is found). Only the forest department, researchers, and, on the odd occasion, volunteers can do so.

But walking is the best way to experience the wilderness. It provides proximity that cannot be achieved from a safari vehicle. Instead of watching from the comfort of a jeep, you can get up close to the animals. There is a certain rush in being in the proximity of an animal, and that is lost when you are in a vehicle. So, whenever possible, I roam through agricultural lands in search of wildlife.

Postcard

Here’s a close up shot of a little egret. These common birds are very beautiful. I wish more people gave them the credit they deserve.

We should all champion the common wildlife around us. That’s one of the best ways of spreading the message of conservation to the public.

Favourite Quote

“I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn’t been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky.” – Oprah Winfrey

Have a creative, wild and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)