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A motley group of as many as 150 birders ‘walked the chirp’ in search of their feathered friends in and around the countryside of Manipal. The occasion was the 10th Edition of Manipal Bird Day organised by Manipal Birders Group on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020.

The day began ‘Bird Walk’ from Hotel Sheela Sagar (Opposite MIT campus) at 6:30 a.m. The birders divided themselves in smaller groups of 10-12 members and followed 13 different trails which took them through different terrains like hills, plains, paddy fields and wetlands. The idea was to sight as many birds as possible and record their presence in the region.

When the walk ended at about 10:00 a.m., the different groups have recorded a total of 125 species of birds, which was a bit lesser than the sighting of the yester years. “The 10th edition this year has seen a very good growth of interest among people. At the same time a decline has been seen in the bird species sighted compared to previous years,” said one of the organisers. Some of the rare birds sighted were Indian Pitta, Oriental Turtle Dove, Fork-Tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Orange Breasted Green Pigeon, Eurasian Marsh Harrier and Malabar Pied Hornbill.

The bird walk was followed with an interaction session at KMC Food Court and MAHE Vice Chancellor Dr. H. Vinod Bhat presided over the function. He felicitated six people who actively participated recently in a rescue mission of abandoned birds in Manipal.

A program then continued with a talk on ‘Ethical Photography’ by Dhruvam Desai, final year student of MIT, Manipal. This was followed by ‘Backyard Birding’ with Shubha Bhat from IISc Bangalore. She spoke on different ways to feed the birds with water using different materials for bird baths. “I have recorded 120 species of birds from bird baths in my garden,” she said. She encouraged the participants to have bird baths in their gardens or flats which will help quench the thirst of these little winged wonders during summer.

The participants involved themselves actively in the interaction sessions. The event was accompanied with an art exhibition titled ‘Feathered Jewels’ by Aditya Bhat. He presented around 18 paintings all from his memory of birding encounters.

Participation in Manipal Bird Day was open to all and entry was free.

MANIPAL BIRD DAY

Manipal Bird Day is an annual event dedicated to celebrating birds in Manipal. This day long event brings together a large number of birders from Manipal, Udupi, Mangalore, Mysore, Bangalore, Davangere and other places. Around 150-200 people gather and are split into different teams. They visit the assigned regions and count as many birds as possible. This non competitive event focuses on spreading awareness regarding the diverse avifauna around us. Turn out for this event has been increasing from 3 people to 200 in last 10 years. This is the 10th edition of Manipal Bird Day.

MANIPAL BIRDERS CLUB

Manipal Birders Club started as a Facebook group after the release of the first edition of “A Birders Handbook to Manipal” to share information about the latest sightings. It is now a formal group of over 500 like-minded members that meets at least once a week to go on bird walks. It is now a large birders community and a medium to organize events, bird walks and discussions about birds and sightings.

The next step would be to involve a higher number of local and young birders who will dictate the change in environment around the town in the coming years. With the co operation of Zoology and natural sciences students and other nature enthusiasts and faculty of different colleges weekly birding sessions have been conducted to involve and encourage more and more people to bird and get connected to the nature and to try to understand the changes happening around us, the media release issued by the group said.

Mangaluru, May 23: In order to ensure that students do not miss out on their studies due to educational institutions being shut owing to the coronavirus lockdown, Dakshina Kannada Pre-university College Principles Association (DKPUCPA) is conducting online classes on YouTube for pre-university students.

The online lessons are shot by lecturers at St Aloysius College and the lectures are then uploaded on YouTube enabling students to watch them online.

"The whole world is currently in a crucial situation because of COVID-19, and because of the lockdown, all are forced to stay indoors. Usually, we used to conduct lectures in a class full of students, but now it is a new experience that we are providing the same information to students in their absence," Rajaram Rao, a lecturer said while speaking to news agency.

He said at present these classes are being conducted for second year pre-university students.

If any student has a doubt on any concept, he said they can contact the teachers. "At present, students also are getting information about the teachers who have uploaded the videos. All the information about the teachers is already being uploaded on the system so that they can contact the teacher," he said.

Dhanya, a student, hailed the DKPUCPA for the setting up of the online classes despite the prevailing situation.

"The teachers who have taught in these classes have taught very well, as if they are teaching right in front of us. It has been very useful for me during this time," she said.

The nationwide lockdown imposed to combat the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic has been extended to May 31.

Bengaluru, Apr 16: Special Investigating Team (SIT), headed by Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil, subjected former underworld don turned social activist Muthappa Rai in connection with gangster and underworld don Ravi Poojary's criminal cases.

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said that the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Venugopal and police inspector Bulletin have questioned Rai in his house for more than two hours about Ravi Poojary case.

Muthappa Rai was allegedly one of the accused in builder Subbaraju murder case. They both were allegedly close in the initial days and they were like a team, said a senior officer. So Rai was questioned about their connection. Rai, who reformed himself many years ago, is into business and social service at present.