It is said that imitation is the best form of flattery. When Coimbatore Nature Society was approached by the Young Indians Coimbatore chapter to do the second edition to our successful “Birds of Coimbatore”, our joy knew no bounds. The first edition of Birds of Coimbatore was launched during the Coimbatore Vizha celebrations in January 2016 and was sold out within no time. The plan was to bring out the second edition of the book during the Coimbatore Vizha celebrations of 2021.
The success of the first edition bore heavily on our minds. Any subsequent work would have to outperform the high standards set by the first edition in order to be relevant. This is particularly important because the audience for this new book would come not only from a new audience but also significantly from the readers of our first edition.
The core team comprising of Mr. Pavendhan, Mr. Prakash, and I brainstormed on ideas that could go into the making of this new edition. We also took into consideration the feedback received from various quarters for the first edition and incorporated those into the second edition. For example, we decided to incorporate the Tamil names of birds alongside the English common names so that they would be more relatable to the common man.
The size of the bird also has been mentioned so that the person reading the bird profiles would be able to visualize the birds better. We have segregated the birds based on orders and have given each order a unique color code. Each order comes with its separate introduction page packed with locally relevant information for the order. We expect that the color-coding of the bird orders makes it easier for beginners to locate the birds amidst the pages.
We were ably supported by a technical team of 9 members from Coimbatore Nature Society, namely Mr. Selvaraj, Mr. Soundararajan, Mr. Vijaykumar, Dr. Sulochana, Dr. Laya, Mr. Gandhikumar, Mr. Sureshbabu, Mr. Nishanth & Ms. Sahitya. The technical team helped us pen the profiles of birds by collecting and collating the information from different sources. They also helped us with proof-reading the content for technical and typographical errors. Their turnaround time for the task was amazing and we would not have been able to complete the book within the stipulated time without their timely help and constant support.
We are happy to note that Dr. Pramod, Principal scientist, SACON has graciously penned a foreword for this book. He has been a source of constant support for our endeavors. Our debt of gratitude is also due to Mr. Anwardeen, IFS, APCCF for his foreword. The foreword and introduction by Dr. B K Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman, Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan deserves a special mention. His concise summary of the history of Coimbatore from prehistoric times to the present date within 5-6 pages makes for an excellent read for both Coimbatoreans and outsiders alike.
The book follows the Birds of Coimbatore checklist released in September 2020 by Coimbatore Nature Society. This book features a total of 409 species of birds. For the sake of comparison, the state of Tamilnadu has about 514 species of birds. It may be worth noting here that the unique geography of the Coimbatore district has been a contributor to this avian diversity. From the numbers, it is clear that this book is not only relevant to Coimbatoreans, but also to people from other districts of our state. It may be interesting to note that there has been an addition of close to 92 species of birds over those featured in the first edition of the book.
The bird profiles used in the new edition have been completely rewritten. The scientific names of the birds reflect the latest taxonomic changes. The IUCN status of the birds has also been completely revised to reflect the latest changes. We also decided to use an entirely new set of photographs. The photographs have been chosen with a focus on illustrating the key identification pointers. For the most important sexually dimorphic species, we have incorporated photos of both the male and the female of the species. We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to all the photographers who generously contributed their images for this book.
One of the unique features of this book is its use of simplified pictorial icons for describing bird habitats. We hope that this feature finds appeal amongst the readers. Another unique feature of this book is its use of QR codes. Each bird profile is accompanied by a QR code. Scanning the QR code on your smartphone will take you to the webpage that features the bird’s call. We are receiving extremely good feedback from several quarters for the innovative and interactive use of QR codes.
One of the much-appreciated aspects of the first edition was the section on birding hotspots. This was a huge advantage to both veteran birders and new birders. They could come to know what birds could be found here in Coimbatore and where. The readers may be pleased to know that we had expanded the section on hotspots to include 20 additional birding hotspots within the Coimbatore district. Some of the newly included hotspots are Kalangal and Walayar reservoirs. All the hotspots have been given GPS coordinates so that it would be easy to locate these places. This will no doubt be of much help to Coimbatoreans and outsiders alike.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to CII Young Indians Coimbatore Chapter and its chairperson Dr. Aishwarya for taking the initiative for bringing out the book and for having confidence in our team to deliver the book. We are told that the proceeds from the sales of this book will go into funding a series of books documenting different facets of our district.
To order a copy of the book:
Gpay/Paytm to Prakash G – 9840092602
Gpay to Mr. Selvaraj – 9842261279
