Introduction: An artist by profession and birdwatcher, environmentalist and photographer by passion, my love for nature and birds started since I was a kid. My father, a well-known orthopaedic surgeon and a renowned ornithologist has been my mentor in this journey. Background: This tryst with artificial nesting dates back to two decades when my father started installing earthen pots around our garden and water feeders to attract birds. The first birds to be attracted here were the spotted owlets, mynahs and nested for one season, but discontinued. Slowly I realised that these earthen pots has a few drawbacks. These pots had big holes from which the young ones fell off, the eggs fell or they were attacked by predators. Artificial nesting does not mean disturbing the natural habitat of birds. Birds such as the Grey Hornbill used hollows in aged tamarind, peepal or banyan trees. These trees were slowly diminishing and in turn were the birds. Artificial nests, essentially made out of old oil cans, boxes, etc, are used to attract these types of birds, without disturbing their natural nesting habitat. My one acre garden is known to house more than 50 species of birds and attracts several others throughout the year. I have been working with the concept of artificial nesting for birds for almost a decade now and it has increased the breeding of a variety of birds in my garden, which include the Grey Hornbills, Jungle Mynah, Common Mynah and Brahmani Mynah, Magpie Robbins, to name a few. Observations: Several observations and my experience led to creating boxes of difference shapes and sizes to suit the behaviours of different birds. This experience also allowed me to conclude that 2 inches diameter was the ideal size of the box opening for artificial nests. This was an ideal circumference for the birds to adapt to these boxes. Further, this hole was required to be on the upper side of the box. This allows the birds to have a comfortable base as their nest and also prevents the young ones from falling off. Initially I noticed that birds usually visited my garden to take a dip, drink water and often flied off. On closely observing their behaviour I tried to inculcate more indigenous plantations in the garden to attract nesting of birds. They slowly started responding to these plantations and other trees like drumstick, banyan, and several other fruiting and flowering trees as well. I have also seen several birds coming to my garden for bathing and drinking water especially during summers when the grass is sprayed with water. This observation helped me create water feeders in my garden and I have tried to give it as much a natural effect as possible. For instance these feeders are abount 2 inches in depth which is a convenient dimension for birds to drink water or take a dip. Further, trees such as mangoes, chickoos in the garden also act as natural food resources for these birds. A large variety of creepers has also helped small birds to make nests in them. In my garden I have a complete ecosystem created for all kinds of birds – water birds, birds of prey, migratory birds, frequent visitors and forest birds. Use of recycled materials: It was a conscious decision to not use any fancy material or make any special investments to create these artificial nests. Keeping the environment and recycling in mind, I have consciously uses old boxes, oil cans and other recycled material to make these artificial nests. The idea was to be economical, environment friendly and most importantly easy to adapt to anyone who wanted to try this and contribute to the cause of making the surroundings greener and more bird-friendly! For instance, I have used old bamboo baskets that come with flower bouquets as nests for doves, small earthen pots for Grey Tits since they are tiny birds, wooden boxes for Grey Hornbills which have now been breeding and nesting in my garden for 4 years. Besides these, I use oil cans and wooden boxes for parakeets as well for the three types of mynahs in the garden. So far, I have conducted more than 200 slide shows on the art of artificial nesting for birds, thereby helping the society to develop an eco-friendly surrounding. I also try and regularly visit NGOs and schools to educate and create such spaces around in their campus.
