Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
A DOCTOR IN THE BIRDING ZONE!
Dr Able Lawrence, professor Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology at SGPGIMS has many interests. But this doctor by choice became an ardent birder by chance.
“Yes it was by chance that this side of me came to the fore. It surprises me till date to have reached this far. I have documented more than 200 birds that were spotted in the PGI itself.”
THE DOCTOR BY CHOICE
Talking about his initial days, Lawrence says, “I did my schooling from Sainik School and loved physics and planned to be a physicist some day. But then my inclination towards medicines grew. And by the time I joined Government Medical College in Kozhikode also known as Calicut, a city in Kerala, I had made up my mind if I will complete my MD in medicine it will be from PGI Chandigarh only. And I was enrolled there. After completing my thesis from there, I joined SGPGI in 2000.”
FINDING THE BIRDER IN ME
It was in 2014 that Lawrence, a bird blind as he calls himself, turned an ardent birder. The evolution as per him was slow but steady.
“Yes I was a bird blind like most of us are in our usual lives. The turning point was when a student of mine, who also happened to be a friend and a bird photographer, asked me to accompany him to Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary. We were there for the entire day and it was only after half the day passed by I too started spotting birds. Although the success rate was very low, still it did bring out the birder in me. Soon my interest started growing and I could spot birds and also understand their sounds.
So it was then I knew I had to study and understand the world of these beautiful flying creatures and so I explored Cornell University, IITChennai and IIT-Kanpur’s websites to actually enlighten myself on more birds.”
“Then, I joined ebird.org and got myself registered there. I knew the most important aspect of my new passion was to absorb the flow of identification and then reporting my finds. I would also like to mention here how I met a bird guide while I was at a sanctuary in Kerala and it was real learning experience for me to understand how these guides function and locate birds. I learned the nuances and today it does help in getting my passion going. Also after the birder in me came to the fore, another passion that I developed was photography but then I also believe if one is a birder in true sense one does become a perfect photographer too as they are two sides of the same coin,” he shares.
CREDITING SGPGI AS THE HOTSPOT
It was during his documenting about the birds that Lawrence realised that despite having a vast species of birds, PGI Lucknow was not getting its due.
Detailing his struggle to make PGI get the credit, he says, “As it sounds it was not that easy. Instead, it was a cumbersome task but I had decided that I wanted ‘Bird Count India’ to make SGPGI a hotspot too. And after an initial struggle it did happen and it was my first victory. And today I have been given the responsibility to curate hotspots in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.”
“I remember observing a bird guide during one of visits to a bird sanctuary in Kerala. It was there where I realised that one needs to keep a few things in check if one wants to be a real birder. First and foremost you need a wish list of the birds you are looking for. This also led to an interest towards trees and types of vegetation. It honed my photography skills pretty much.”Lawrence has also been given the responsibility of maintaining filter for the city, where new breeds of birds if spotted by birders anywhere are reviewed, accepted or rejected.
BEING THE BACKYARD BIRDER
Lawrence calls himself a backyard birder as his interest was lied in spotting birds flocking the SGPGI only.
“Yes there are different types of birders and the list is endless. But as I said I’m a backyard birder tough I go to sanctuaries and other areas but PGI campus in Lucknow is my hotspot as I found over 200 birds of diverse species flocking here. This is commendable and a matter of pride for all of us,” he adds.
ON BIRDING ESCAPADE WITH HIS GROUP
Lawrence feels that when you are all passionate about something, you need not find or make time for it. Instead, it becomes a part of your lifestyle. “Yes it is today my ears and eyes are always waiting for that sound that I know could be my new find.”
Remembering his favourite birding excursion he says, “Roshil Fernandez and Nelson are my ring men. We together plan our weekend ventures and decide on a bird we wish to locate and then start our search for the day. I remember we decided to locate a grassbird during one of our excursions and it took us months of searching but to no avail. Then I saw some birders’ Facebook posts with grassbird pictures. I contacted them and asked about their location and all.
Here I would also like to mention that some birders have this habit of maintaining secrecy and hiding their finds. But it is wrong according to me as well as my group. The more you share the more you help the organisation in knowing about that particular bird species.”
“Anyway coming back to my Grassbird search, we all
re-planned our trip with every little detail but the search did not yield desired result. One day I was just walking around in my campus when I spotted the rare bristled grassbird in the PGI again. Sometimes its matter of minutes like we spotted orange thrush in two minutes of our search as we had decided to locate it in similar habitat and vegetation like that of Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary. So, for birders it is important to be at the right place at the right time.”