When Dr. KS Gopi Sundar, now based in Belagavi, was a young boy at a nature camp in Cubbon Park, Bangalore, he had two encounters that would change his life. While walking in the park, he saw his first golden oriole through binoculars. Until then, he had thought that such birds existed only in the Amazon. Then, a few minutes later, he spotted a pair of blue Indian Wanderer butterflies.
“My world changed,” says Sundar, shortly after joining Birdwatchers Field Club in Bangalore.
For the ecologist who grew up in Bangalore, there was no looking back from there. Sander received a B.S. in Environmental Science from St. Joseph’s College (now St. Joseph’s University) and later a Master’s degree in Ecology from Pondicherry University. In 1998, he began studying the world’s tallest flying bird, the Sarus Crane, as part of a project with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. “I saw Saroo for the first time on the train on the way to Mathura…near Mathura,” Sundar said. A few years later, Sander enrolled at the University of Minnesota to earn a doctorate in conservation biology.
Sander is currently a National Geographic Explorer, editor-in-chief of the international journal Waterbirds: the International Journal of Waterbird Biology, and co-chair of the IUCN Stork, Ibis and Spoonbill Expert Group. Research on large waterfowl, especially sarus cranes. He serves on several state wildlife boards and court-appointed committees related to conservation in India and has published over 100 papers.
The most recent is a co-authored paper titled “Characteristics of bird niches in small Indian cities: Impact of migratory regime, season, and environmental variables” published in the Journal of Urban Ecology in September 2024.
In a recent interview with The Hindu in Bangalore, he spoke about this new research and what he has learned from studying bird-human coexistence in India.
One of the things your recent paper makes clear is that we need to reevaluate the assumption that urbanization automatically leads to a decline in bird diversity. Can you talk about how this study was conducted and some of the interesting trends you observed?
There, in Udaipur, we (Sundar and his wife Swati Kittur, a co-author of the study) met a wonderful man named Vijay Kohli, an assistant professor at Mohanlal Sukhadia University. He asked us to help him start his student work.
Together with student Kanishka who was very interested in all kinds of things, we thought of doing research on birds of Udaipur. Because they are little known. We thought it would also be of great interest to the ornithological community around the world to know how an urban area like Udaipur, which attracts so much attention for tourism, is like.
As we found out, Udaipur is an incredible city for birds. There is a concentrated area with a lake. Due to construction at the edge, there is nothing available for the birds other than the lake. But once you step outside, you’ll find a beautiful, myriad, and huge diversity. The city is home to agriculture, grasslands, tribal lands, and the Aravalli range.
We measured variables across three broad dimensions to understand how urbanization affects birds. One is human relationships: people walking, cars, cows, etc. We also recorded traditional nature associations such as shrubland, trees, and tree diversity. Kanishka then quickly started using GIS as well, so he also developed a landscape diversity index that measures many things at the landscape scale.
Interestingly, human-related variables had the weakest impact on birds in Udaipur. The strongest effects were at the habitat level: tree diversity, number of trees, amount of shrubland and grassland, and proximity to the Aravalli Range. This indicates that Udaipur remains a functional habitat.
Looking at studies around the world, human-related variables have the strongest effects on birds, usually showing strong negative correlations. Ecology textbooks say that as human density increases, bird diversity decreases. Ecological studies also show that the longer people stay in an area, the further this diversity decreases. But here, the data shows that entire cities are thriving bird habitats. So our research has to be more nuanced, and I don’t like to put it this way, but it has to be more Indian.
Much of your research focuses on the ability of species to persist in areas that have been modified by humans. Could you please elaborate more on this?
Most of my work is done outside of protected areas in India, Nepal and Australia. There is a concept that there are no wild animals outside of protected areas. In many cases, very Western colonial attitudes towards conservation remain. If you look at the paper that came out today, which is a global review of urban research, basically 90 to 95 percent of the data is from North America and Europe. Sure, you’ll see a map with some dots in Africa or India, but the data is biased.
We need to be a little more careful when generalizing such “global” information. Because the information is heavily biased towards cities different from ours. These trends are very likely not to apply to our cities unless they truly take shape, like what is starting to happen in the suburbs of Hyderabad, Bangalore, or Mysore. But in general, development here is a very nuanced and complex story, never as formulaic as in the “developed world” where you clear the land completely and start anew. Ironically, this is not possible here due to the high population density.
Our cities are so-called metropolitan areas, which are collections of various villages and towns. Agricultural land still remains in Bangalore. Temples with huge aquariums, giant trees, and grasslands still exist in our cities.
We conducted several surveys in Delhi, including one on ponds in the city, where we counted 173 species of birds. As of now, Delhi holds the world record for having the most birds in an urban wetland. That’s amazing. So don’t listen to people who say they can’t find birds in crowded cities.
How is Bangalore faring in terms of urban biodiversity, especially bird populations?
Bangalore was also once a magical city of urban ecology. But that’s no longer the case. I think we are now at a tipping point as far as Bangalore is concerned.
Traffic never stops. There are too many big buildings and IT parks, and the city is too specific. Many of the birds kept in India are territorial, such as the Ficed Flycatcher. This means that if an IT park or new airport is built, the population there will not be able to move anywhere and will be eliminated as the rest of the area is already occupied.
Real estate is an important business for birds as well. Migratory birds may no longer choose to come here, as there is significant disruption and pollution in most lakes.
You have studied the sarus crane in detail and shown how this bird thrives outside of protected areas, especially in agricultural areas. Can you talk about the agricultural practices that underpin the success of the species in India?
A longitudinal study I conducted in 24 districts for my PhD showed that Uttar Pradesh has the highest bird diversity of any non-tree agricultural region in the world. There are over 400 species [of birds] In these 24 districts alone. So you can imagine how many there are in other districts.
What happened was a series of happy coincidences. One is that the country is heavily influenced by the monsoon, and there are few crops that can be grown during the monsoon season. Since flooding occurs frequently, there is one crop that can cope with wetland flooding: rice. Studies have shown that the Ganges floodplain is one of the most fertile regions in the world, with soil biodiversity and density higher than anywhere else in the world. This has allowed species like the Salas and many others (both migratory and resident) to thrive there.
Interestingly, the Green Revolution brought positive changes to cranes. British historical records show that there were not many cranes in existence before. The density of irrigation canals has increased, and rice cultivation has stabilized. Sarus cranes can adapt and change even strong behaviors, and they do really well in these landscapes. Cranes begin breeding when farmers perform their first floods in anticipation of rain. It’s about how close they are to the farmers and how long they’ve been with them.
Birds have had incredible cultural significance and symbolism throughout the world, including India, since ancient times. Many are even considered sacred. Does it play any role in their survival and even prosperity in countries like India?
India is a very curious country. Some call it religious, some call it cultural, I don’t know how to define it, but without that element, we wouldn’t have as many birds as we do. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, the large population of sarus cranes is largely due to the generosity of farmers. I was back on the road when I went in to measure Salas’ eggs for the first time. My bike was surrounded by six people with sticks because they thought I was stealing eggs. Their first reaction to a stranger approaching a salus is protection.
Of course, there is illegal wildlife trade and hunting in places such as Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Punjab, which is very vicious and on an unimaginable scale. However, I have seen many farmers, often the poorest of the poor, protect birds that choose to nest in their fields. Or the fishermen in Tamil Nadu and Kerala who worship the White-bellied Steller’s Sea Eagle. they won’t touch it. There is also a temple forest where birds have been breeding for decades. It’s a crazy country where you can’t predict anything…it’s not easy for an ecologist to live in (lol).
