A Momentous Meeting with the Legendary Karthikeyan Sir
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It was indeed a delightful rendezvous with the legendary Karthikeyan Sir, today.
While almost having been lost in
the woods, and the added ecstasy of having sighted a few rare birds – the Tickell’s
Blue Flycatcher and the Verditer flycatcher - still singing in our hearts, we
were so delighted to have our breakfast today with Karthik Sir. 😊
Well, for bird and butterfly enthusiasts, especially in Karnataka, Karthik Sir is a phenomenon.
He has nurtured a deep love for wildlife for almost 40 years. He is an avid birdwatcher and also has a keen interest in butterflies.
As an amateur photographer he has till date photographed a wide variety of subjects including butterflies, landscapes, wild flowers, flowering trees, lesser mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and other insects.
So when we asked him about how his love for bird watching - on where it all started, he said,
It was because of our teacher! One fine day, he told us, “If you don’t have anything to do, go, do some bird watching”.
We took his words quite seriously, and we went to one of the main circles of Bangalore, and we started watching birds. That’s how it all began. And from then on, there’s been no turning back’, he observed.
When we next asked him if he has a blog, where he documents his thoughts, he said –
Well, yes, I’ve been a blogger for long, and it’s a collection of my past blogposts that have come up as a book now!
His blog can be accessed here: https://www.wildwanderer.com/
That’s indeed added motivation for all our bloggers out there.
When we had a discussion on our bird watching this morning, and the seed dispersal done by certain birds and bats, he said,
There are around 400 species of mammals in India, and 25% of these mammals are bats. Added, there are over 200 species of rodents. But not many are aware of the part played by the bats and rodents in seed dispersal, he observed.
We also took a photograph with him at the end of our coffee time.
Karthik Sir has been educating and creating awareness among the young and old alike on various aspects of natural history through nature camps, talks, slide shows, and nature-based activities.
He has undertaken various faunal surveys including those at Biligirirangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary and Devarayanadurga State Forest and Bannerghatta National Park. He has also done a project on the little-known Indian Tree Shrew.
The Fauna of Bangalore: The vertebrates and butterflies of Bangalore – A Checklist that gives a listing of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and butterflies published by WWF-India, Karnataka State Office was authored by him.
He has co-authored a booklet comprising of activities targeted at high school students titled Ideas for Outdoors – Plants also published by WWF-India, Karnataka State Office, Bangalore.
He has also published a pocket book titled Discover Avenue Trees and Explore Spiders of India.
Some of these books can be ordered from the publishers on the link given below.
Karthik Sir has over 50 technical publications in International/National journals and periodicals and over 85 popular articles (most with supporting pictures) in leading dailies, magazines and other periodicals. He was with the WWF-India for over 13 years.
Sources for the bio on Karthik Sir: wildwanderer.com
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