Naturalists Training Program (NTP)

Santosh Badri , a wildlife and birding enthusiast and photographer who shares with us his NTP experience


Finally, I attended the much sought after Naturalist Training Program conducted by Karthik @ the Jungle Lodges & Resorts campsite at Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore recently. Any person interested in being a naturalist or rather anyone who is interested in nature need to attend this workshop .

The Program


The program answers the main question "Who is  a Naturalist?" A person who studies natural history is a Naturalist. It also includes people who study nature in totality, not limited to any specific species.


JLR has started this unique program way back in 2005 to involve people, to create awareness, to teach basics of birdwatching and share information on flora, fauna and the hidden secrets of nature. Now , this workshop is conducted by S Karthikeyan, Chief Naturalist at JLR ,who had worked with WWF for 17 years prior to this.

Venue
Bannerghatta Nature Camp, run by JLR inside the herbivore park. There is a dormitory, tents and cottages for day visits and overnight stay.

The 3 day program had sessions and topics on role of a Naturalist, Biodiversity in India, Introduction to birds and birdwatching, bird behaviour, nature trails, plant-animal interactions, Urban wildlife along with nature trails in the morning and evening for that 'field experience'.

In the evenings, we saw David Attenborough's 'The Life of Birds' , which was played over the 2 days. We also met Sandeep, Sumanth and Krishna murthy - people who were part of the earlier workshops and who are into conservation and wildlife awareness activities.

Personal Experience

I first got into photography and then into birdwatching and learnt it absolutely the wrong way. I never used to observe them 'keenly' (i never knew what i missed till now), see, click, move. I used to refer my clicks for identifying birds using the Salim Ali's book as reference. In sense, I was more of a photographic birder untill this workshop happened.
All of the participants were asked to choose a name of a bird / animal starting with the first letter of their names and we were called by the same names over the next 2 days. On the nature walks with Karthik, we would cover about 1/2 or a km in distance in probably 2-3 hours looking out for each and every interesting aspect of nature in the surroundings - they may be flies, butterflies, plants, shrubs, trees, flowers, fruits, birds, reptiles, mammals etc etc... When the group spotted a bird, everyone were asked to sketch it on their pads highlighting the important features like the beak colour, rumps, patterns, size, wing patterns etc. Then all were asked to identify the bird from the book based on these features. 


Bird behavior was another important activity we did - that is observing them! I was tempted to shoot whenever i saw a bird on the first day, but subsequently I used my binoculars more and less of my camera which was another revelation for me, I learnt the joy in observing the nature around me (compared to always being worried about not getting a good shot !) A simple question from Karthik made us realize this - Does a Myna hop or walk?

Overall it was a wonderful learning experience for me, learning to appreciate all forms of life and everything in our surroundings. I got to know some real good interesting people and there were these discussions, exchange of ideas and learning amongst us. Mr Karunakar was the oldest member in the group at a grand old age of 74 and Mr Bharadwaj was the youngest who has just completed his PU course.

List of birds that we sketched, discussed and identified-
1.Common Kingfisher
2.Pied Kingfisher
3.White breasted Kingfisher
4.Red Whiskered Bulbul
5.Red Vented Bulbul
6.White cheeked Barbet
7.Coppersmith Barbet
8.Jungle Myna
9.Jungle Crow
10.Indian Robin
11.Oriental White Eye
12.Small Minivet
13.Magpie Robin
14.Red rumped Swallow
15.Tickells blue flycatcher
16.Asian Paradise flycatcher
17.Common Hoopoe
18.Common Iora
19.White rumped Munia
20.White Bellied Drongo
21.Racquet tailed Drongo
22.Drongo
23.Golden fronted Leafbird
24.Bay backed Shrike
25.Little Cormorant
26.Grey Heron
27.Red wattled Lapwing
28.Black Shouldered Kite
29.Oriental Honey Buzzard
30.Black Kite
31.Brahminy Kite
32.Indian Silverbill
33.Golden Flameback Woodpecker
34.Green Bea eater

We also spotted the Indian Gaur, Rock Agama,Sambar Deer, Barking Deer,Spotted Deer, Blackbuck Antelope, Four horned Antelope. Marsh Crocodile

Few interesting things that I learnt:
1. What makes a bird a bird? - Flight (wings, feathers, modified bones), Beak and Warm blood.


2. Fig trees are the Keystone species

3. Interesting features of Touch me Not plant

4. The small worms you find in books are Silverfish ( they feed on cellulose - books)

5. The delicate, intricate 'Web of Life'*

6. Biodiversity of India and Species distribution

7. The case of missing Sparrows (still remains unresolved)

8. The rise of the Rock Pigeons and Black Kites

9. 'Gubbi Goodu'

10. Body care behaviors, Feeding strategies, Social displays of birds

11. Types of Forests


12. Differences between few similar species (Ex:difference b/w a Pigeons-Doves, Hares-Rabbits etc..)

13. E.H. Aitken, David Attenborough, Salim Ali and others

14. Truth About Tigers

15. Sketching a bird in your book is very simple (but I'm very bad at it :))

16. Butterflies

Thanks to Karthik, JLR and the other members, I'm looking forward for the Level 2 program :)