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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Honorary Distinctions

 

The World Photography Day-2020  became unforgettable for me as two more honorary distinctions  were conferred upon me by the Wildlife Photography Association of India (WPAI) and Tricity Photo Art Society (TPAS), Chandigarh. It was because of the guidelines concerning Covid-19 that these distinctions were awarded online.

My sincere thanks to the Board of Directors of WPAI and Mr.Chitrangad Kumar for electing me as Hon. WPAI. I am also grateful to TPAS team, especially Mr Vinod Chauhan, Mr Deep Bhatia and Ms Neetu Katyal for the distinction of Hon. Master - TPAS (Hon. M TPAS).



Two years ago, on this very day-the World Photography Day, I had received my first honorary distinction of Excellence-USPA awarded by United States Photography Alliance at a special function organized by Andhra Pradesh Photography Akademi, Vijayawada. I am grateful to the USPA and General Secretary of the Akademi, Mr Tamma Srinivasa Reddy.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

The Elusive Black Redstart

 

Mirzapur check dam near my native place Chandigarh is a well known hot spot for birding. Situated at a distance of about 25 kms  in district Sahibzada  Ajit Singh Nagar in Punjab, it is easily accessible by road. I have been to this hot spot twice, first on July 4, 2020 a cloudy day to just see the location for birding in future and second time it was in the morning hours of July 25,2020 with a hope to make some photographs of birds. On both trips I accompanied my friend Lalit Mohan Bansal, a fellow birder of Chandigarh Bird Club.

My second trip to Mirzapur Check Dam became unforgettable when one day I received an email from an ace birder Mr S.S.Cheema. His email was via e Bird and in response to my observations uploaded in my e bird checklist. Mr Cheema wrote that he was writing about the observation concerning  species Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) dated July 25, 2020 at location  Mirzapur check dam, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Punjab, India. He had mentioned the concerned URLhttps://ebird.org/checklist/S71795446 and pointed out “There have been no recordings of Black Redstart in the months of Jun till Mid Sep in this region. This record is very interesting in the Mirzapur Dam area. May I please request you if you can please describe the observation or upload a picture. That will help us immensely and will also help us study the implications of birds in this area at a time when it is otherwise not observed. Photos and audio recordings are the best possible supporting information, so if you do have those please do upload them to your checklist.Once your checklist has been edited to include additional details, I will be able to give this sighting additional consideration. Minimum standards of documentation are required for observations to be used publicly, although they still will appear in your personal lists.

“Thank you again for your contributions to eBird India—your sightings help to make eBird useful to millions of people each year, providing real-time bird sightings and powering eBird science around the world” he concluded.

When I received his email I was out of town, but luckily I had my record and equipment with me which enabled me to respond quickly and that too with the photograph of the Black Redstart made at the said location on the said day.

I being a novice birder and poor at identification of birds, I was a little disturbed  with his query fearing that I may not be wrong. Although in my reply to him, I had explained how I had identified the bird, but before sending him the digital image in question, to be doubly sure, I had once again checked it for id and it was correct. 

Mr Cheema promptly responded to my reply with a cheerful note which made the incident unforgettable for me and turned out to be a great learning experience. I like to quote here how he replied.

“The picture is very clear and will do the needful. Thanks a ton for prompt reply. Only request is - please do upload the media on the ebird site also if possible”. I followed his advise and edited the checklist by uploading  the said image of the Black Redstart. 

I had kept  Mr Bansal   posted about the interaction with Mr Cheema.

Although the story ended with my uploading that image to my ebird checklist and thanking Mr Cheema for his guidance, yet I being a novice learnt another lesson. Ttry to photograph all birds that you see at a birding spot, may these be record shots. Or keep record of all sightings or calls of birds. The Black Redstart was no longer elusive.

 Subhash Sapru