Anand Pendharkar: Holed up in the city

A common myna explores a nesting hole in a dead toddy palmA fortnight ago I had the good fortune of attending the Student Conference on Conservation Science SCCS at the IIScBengaluru Campus As a part of the conference activities there were several walks conducted in the lush IISc Campus viz Tree Walks Bird Walks and Loris Walks I had the good fortune of enjoying the latter two While on the bird walk the group sighted many insectivorous birds such as Tickellrsquos Blue Flycatcher Great Tit and Greenish Warbler among others And excitedly I enquired about the population of Grey or any other Hornbills sighted in the campus The answer was an astounding zeroThe fact that Grey Hornbills had become extinct on such a lush campus was shocking for me On analysing I realised that the reasons may be manifold Firstly the huge variety of exotic trees planted in our cities provides little or no food for frugivorous birds Secondly the habit of estate managers and landscape architects of cutting down and removing dead and decaying branches and trees destroys crucial locations for holenesting birds and mammals In most landscapes wild or urban woodpeckers are a keystone species as they are the primary holemakers In case of Mumbai to this list we can add the coppersmith and other barbets which are also minor holecreatorsOld trees replacedSadly we too have documented the loss of Grey Hornbills from many of our urban campuses such as the Bhavanrsquos College Munshinagar campus in Andheri In many of our old campuses we have seen the replacing of tall and broad trees such as Tamarind Banyan Terminalias Jamun Raintrees and Mango with short narrow and unbranched species such as False Ashoka Bottle and coconut palms or Drasina This has lead to loss of potential breeding sites for larger birds such as grey hornbills barn and other owls Populations of house sparrows magpie robins spotted owlets common mynas brahminy starlings roseringed and alexandrine parakeets have also been affected by this loss of nesting holes They have to sadly compete with the more aggressive Palm Squirrels and in some cases even bandicoot and brown rats that climb up trees and buildings to raid destroy and take over their nesting sitesNesting styles changedThe plantation of softwooded Gulmohar and copperpod trees and the spread of Peepul trees along major roads have seen Coppersmith barbets thrive all over Mumbai They are commonly seen drilling into dead branches and feasting on the banyan and peepul fruits But their nests are very narrow and usually either slanting or even open directly downwards making them useless for most other holenesters Sparrows and common mynas have adapted their nesting style to tuck grass and pieces of cloth behind airconditioners or in streetlight frames Similarly barn owls have adapted to nesting in broken sewage pipes behind signage boards and hoardings of newage buildingsThe biggest blow has been delivered to true holenesters such as civets parakeets and magpie robins among others And our woodpeckers have almost disappeared from the scene only to be seen in very few balanced forested patches of the Aarey Milk Colony Mulund Hill and IIT Campus Thankfully many organisations viz SPROUTS Aranya BNHS and Sparrow Shelter provide welldesigned nest boxes which can be easily installed in urban towers It is heartening to see some conscientious people put up specially designed wooden nest boxes earthen pots bamboos PVC pipes and jerry cans as nesting setups to accommodate these homeless urban holenestersWrite to Anand at sproutsenvttrustgmailcom