Let’s talk about birds

A book compiles ornithologist and conservationist Salim Ali’s radio broadcasts, drawing attention to his engaging storytelling skills

Words for Birds (Black Kite and Hachette India; Rs 599) compiles all of ornithologist and conservationist Salim Ali’s radio broadcasts. Ali (1896-1987) was a naturalist and ornithologist in India when bird watching was nowhere as popular or as respectable as it is today. His name has been synonymous with the scholarship, appreciation and conservation of Indian birdlife. The 35 talks that comprise this book were broadcast between 1941 and 1985 and show Ali’s exceptional skill as an oral communicator and bird propagandist. “The object of these talks is really to interest listeners, in the first instance for the healthy pleasure and satisfaction bird watching affords rather than for its intrinsic scientific possibilities,” he said about the radio transmissions.

The book is edited by Tara Gandhi who was guided by Ali for her MSc in field ornithology. She works for biodiversity conservation and conducts surveys to document birds and other wildlife in India. The talks in the book cover many topics—bird habits, bird habitats, birds at risk—in an elegantly conversational and informative style. Birds, Ali tells us, have a crucial place in nature’s cyclical processes. Each talk reads like a short essay.

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