Want to prevent ecological catastrophe? Start with saving birds

Earth. Fire. Wind. Water. Take the four elements in our environment and bring them together, and you get a bird. Recently, it was proved that birds are dinosaurs, related closely to Tyrannosaurus Rex no less.

This does make sense. Birds are the closest we come to nature: we have more than 1,300 species in India, and they are in a lot of places -- in the garden, calling on your verandah, in city squares. Children may see a crow, pigeon or white-eye before they see any other animal.

It's befitting then that the cuckoo outside our window is part of a species that has survived for millions of years, longer than we have. So why are we doing so badly in protecting our iconic species?

The Great Indian Bustard, you will notice, is named after India. That's because it has always historically been found here, in our country. But we have only about 150 left now; 150 of a species that is named after our country, was once found in eleven Indian states, and is dependent on us for its survival. The GIB needs a specific habitat -- grasslands, interspersed with agricultural fields, dry scrub land. It needs organic landscapes because like peacocks, whose carcasses are lined up morbidly and regularly in fields, the GIB also gets poisoned by chemicals. It needs undisturbed areas to nest in, without dogs, people, foxes, cats.

Also Read: Have you ever seen a Great Indian Bustard? Chances are you never will

Rajasthan provides the last hope for the GIB: about 80 birds are left in Thar's magnificent landscape. Rajasthan needs to show the way for the rest of India if we want the GIB to survive. Work has started on securing areas for the bird to breed and there are plans for a facility to conduct conservation breeding, as has been done for the bird's cousin, the Houbara Bustard. A lot more needs to be done, including marking or removing wires that the bird flies into, dying an ignominious, electrocuted death.

Hanging on the edge of extinction, the GIB may soon join the dinosaur in children's encyclopaedias if we don't get our act together.