Bird unseen

I have this old chestnut for the day of the Chennai Bird Race, when I go back to give in my log sheet to the volunteers manning the desks. I tell them that my team saw a few ostriches, and they start, because they haven't heard of the Post Graduate Research Institute in Animal Sciences at Kattupakkam, about 17 km from Tambaram. 

This year, I did not use that, mainly because my team did not see any of these ostriches. We did go to the PGRIAS, but we were intent on improving our bird count and so did not spend any time going over to watch the ostriches at their research area. Of course, the Bird Races do not accept any sighting of captive birds, so the ostriches were never going to add any heft to the count.

So, the picture here is from a few weeks ago. Without spending time on the ostriches, our team managed to top the 100-species mark for the first time this year!

Two of a kind

When a person starts birding, many long believed 'truths' turn out to be not so true. One of them is about owls. Most of us think of them as night birds; they may be mostly nocturnal, but there are many of them who are quite active during the day. Though first-timers might find it unbelievable, it is quite common to see owls during the daytime, even in the middle of the city. 

One of the common species of owl is the Spotted Owlet (Athene brama). It is a small bird, and is unfazed by the presence of humans nearby. You can spot them on the IIT Madras campus, on the golf course at the Cosmopolitan Club and several other places that are overrun with people. The two of them in this picture - can you spot them? - are at the TANUVAS' Research Station at Kattupakkam, on the outskirts of Chennai.

Athene brama usually nests in holes - that should be enough of a clue for you to click through the picture and spot the Owlets!

Model birds

Everyone knows that the CGI of dinosaur movements in the Jurassic Park movies were based on bird movements. Although I do not recall the movie credits ever mentioning what kind of birds were used to provide the model for dino-motion, these here are likely candidates. 

Not that this is a park of any kind. Rather, it is the research station of the TANUVAS - Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University - at Kattupakkam. Not that I understand too much of it, but this research programme has been doing well; essentially the idea is to understand how the birds adapt to local conditions, so that commercial ostrich farming can be viable. That takes a couple of generations. With well over 60% of the ostrich eggs not hatching, it will take a while before you can get to see these take the place of chicken on the menu.

In the meantime, they continue to behave like, well, ostriches. Just because you think they bob their heads about like a velociraptor, you can't blame them for being copy-cats!

Red Madras

It may be the New Year, but there are some places where 'old' memories remain. Like the name 'Madras', for instance. In 2014, it will be eighteen years since the city was renamed as Chennai. There are still several places, however, where 'Madras' continues to be used: the IIT Madras, the Madras High Court, the University of Madras... and there would be many more such. 

The picture shows some lesser known users of the 'Madras' appellation. These sheep are native to the Chennai and Kancheepuram districts; with a startling excess of imagination, they were named 'Madras Red'. Once they have been named so, it is only fitting that the Chennai district today has less than a thousand of them; the bulk of them are in Kancheepuram, which has about 200,000 of these, just under 20% of their total population. (The rest are distributed across Tamil Nadu). 

This herd is part of the research station at Kattupakkam, just outside Chennai. And there they are, looking forward to the New Year, when they would be distributed to some farmer or the other, and might end up as mutton on your plate, if you have such tastes. In any case, here's wishing you a wonderful time in the year 2014!

Empress?

That was the first thought on seeing this beauty at the Kattupakkam Livestock Research Station  of the TANUVAS. Lord Emsworth's favourite person in the world was his pig; the Empress of Blandings, supposedly a Berkshire pig. Now, Berkshire pigs are black, but I had always thought of the Empress as a pink pig - thanks to the illustrator's influence. Also, Emsworth's magical manse was set in Shropshire and this pig in the picture traces its ancestry to Yorkshire, rather than to the former county.

Kattupakkam LRS has had a fair amount of success in being able to produce a domestic strain of the original Large White Yorkshire. Over the past decade, the station has been offering seed-stock to pig farmers. Quite likely that this lady has several of her progeny all over the state!

Security fencing

Security in Chennai has always been pretty low key. Most of the time, it involves documentating entry and exit of vehicles and people into office, commercial or residential spaces. Surveillance is by guards patrolling specific areas or by slowing down traffic to peer inside cars. Remote monitoring is unheard of, for the most part. Some traffic intersections have cameras, but the general belief is that they are incapable of taking pictures anymore. Radar guns - again, street wisdom is that one such gun is shared by all the police stations in the city. You get the idea here; security relies less on technology and more on personnel. (Or on low technology, like glass shards on walls).

It is therefore surprising to find a sign saying 'Electrified Fence', especially on the outskirts of Chennai - at the Livestock Research Centre in Kattupakkam. Upon asking around, one is told that the fence is basically meant to prevent animals from entering the area; the voltage is just enough to jolt the animals a little bit, there is no permanent damage. Over a period of time, the local animals have learnt to respect the fence and so the power is switched off for the most part; it is used only very rarely, when there are some obvious security threats across the city or when there is a high-profile visitor to the Centre.

I remember that one of the software companies, being an early mover on the OMR had built a similar fence years ago, for the same reasons - keeping out animals!

What are we doing here?

I'll start off by letting you in on a secret: this bird is not a common sight on the streets of Chennai. You knew that already? Okay then, tell me, where can we find ostriches in Chennai? If you said "Vandalur zoo", I'll have to excercise quizmaster's discretion and say "Wrong answer" - because that's not the answer I was looking for!

The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) carries out research on various kinds of animals at its Livestock Research Station at Kattupakkam. About ten years ago, they decided to extend their research to ostriches and figure out how they can be an addition to the diet of the locals. Of course, there are challenges to be overcome - climate, feed, breeding, not to mention acceptance of ostrich meat as an alternate to chicken - and it will take a while longer before ostrich breeding can become commercially viable. Until then, ostriches will remain an oddity in Chennai.

My last visit to the 'Ostrich Farm' was about four years ago. There are many more of the birds around now; hearteningly, the breeding programme has resulted in quite a few chicks. In the picture are a pair of sub-adult birds - the female seems to be too shy to show her face to the photographer!