Growing up in a village surrounded by lush greenery, chirping birds, and a never-ending orchestra of nature’s sounds, you’d think I’d have developed a keen interest in wildlife. But no. For me, birds were just background decorations—like moving leaves that occasionally stole my food. A crow was a crow, a pigeon was a pigeon, and that weird long-legged fellow near the pond? Probably a stork or something. Who cared? Certainly not me.
Then came Dr. Arun Gaikwad Sir, the man who could identify a bird faster than I could identify my own relatives at family gatherings. He didn’t just name birds when they were sitting pretty on branches—he named them mid-flight, mid-song, mid-sneeze, and probably even in their dreams. It was like some supernatural ability, and it left me bewildered.
One day, after watching me struggle to identify the very same sparrow I had seen every day for years, Sir took pity on my cluelessness and handed me a book: Collins Field Guide: Birds of India by Norman Arlott.
Now, let me tell you, this book is a game-changer. It’s compact, user-friendly, and packed with beautifully detailed illustrations that make even the most ordinary birds look like celebrities. It groups birds logically, making comparisons easy—though, let’s be honest, I still had moments where every bird looked suspiciously similar to the last one. The range maps are particularly useful; they helped me realize that some of the birds I had been confidently “identifying” did not, in fact, even exist in my region. Oops.
Dr. Gaikwad encouraged me to observe bird behavior, noting how they fly, land, eat, and interact with each other. Slowly, my perspective changed. What once seemed ordinary became extraordinary. The birdcalls that blended into the background started standing out, and suddenly, I found myself wondering about their tiny avian dramas—who was fighting whom, which bird was the neighborhood gossip, and who was just there for the snacks.
If you’re even remotely interested in birds, I highly recommend getting this book. It’s a fantastic guide for beginners. Not that I can boast about my own progress—let’s just say I started as a beginner and, thanks to my busy schedule or as Mumbai dweller, remained a beginner. But that was my fault, not the book’s. It gave me everything; I just happened to be a slow learner.
So, if you ever find yourself looking up at the sky and wondering what feathered wonder just flew past, grab a copy of Collins Field Guide. It might just turn you from a casual bird-noticer into a full-fledged bird nerd. And trust me, that’s a good thing.
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