Trip Report of “How to see like a birder” session
organised by Young Birders, Mumbai Birdwatchers Club and Summer Scribbles
at Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai on 23rd November 2025
Young Birders’ Month is a nationwide celebration designed to spark curiosity, joy, and ecological awareness among children through the fascinating world of birds. As part of this celebration, we at Mumbai Birdwatchers Club and Summer Scribbles organised a session of “How to see like a birder” at the Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP), Mumbai, which was followed by a field trip within the verdant forest of the Park. Fifteen enthusiastic children from 8 to 14 years of age attended the program alongwith their parents.
The program began with Sweedle Cerejo Shivkar giving a brief introduction about MNP. Established with the aim to provide education and to generate awareness about nature conservation, MNP with its wonderful settings and rich biodiversity makes ideal place for this purpose. Developed on an erstwhile garbage dumping ground area, MNP has vast expenses of manmade forest and its also surrounded by the natural ecosystem of the mangrove forests of Mithi River.
Sefi George from Summer Scribbles then began the activities which she had designed for the children. The first activity aimed at introducing different parts of a bird. A poster of the Red Whiskered Bulbul, which is commonly seen in Mumbai, was displayed. The children had to identify the different parts of the bird like beak, eyes, cheeks, crown, crest, back, wings, vent, rump, etc. They were asked to place magnets with the names of the body parts, which were given to them, at the appropriate place on the poster. The kids were quick to learn as the parents too looked on with curiosity.
The next activity involved some colouring. Children were given outlines of birds along with the description of the bird. (For example, glossy black plumage on head, neck, body and tail, reddish-brown wings, bright red eye, etc). The birds had to be coloured in accordingly. The kids enjoyed this activity and so did some of the parents!
The colouring activity continued with flash cards of common birds being distributed among the kids, which they had to observe and then colour. The kids scribbled in joy as the colourful world of our avian friends was unfolded before them.
Another interesting activity followed, with flash cards of bird images being laid out on the floor. The children’s drawings were then shuffled amongst themselves and they had to now find the matching birds from amongst the flash cards. It was wonderful to see the joy on their faces as they compared their own drawings with actual photographs.
It was now time for the field trip. Just as we stepped out several butterflies flitted and flew around on their host plants. There were striped and plain tigers, common and blue Mormons, orange tips, common and crimson rose butterflies, etc and some beautiful jewel beetles too. After a brief introduction by Rujuta the children were led into the verdant woods of MNP. The kids took our instructions to remain silent seriously, and soon the sounds of forest rang out in our ears. We were greeted with the metronomic call of the coppersmith barbet. Some Grey Hornbills were heard calling above the piercing whistles of black kites. Just as Rujuta was narrating how coppersmith barbets are more heard than seen, one of the parents excitedly pointed out to one! Needless to say, the kids were awestruck by its beauty.
A murder of crows sat on the low branches of some mango trees. A great opportunity to show two species of crows presented itself. A couple of Jungle crows or large-billed crows hung around with many house crows. The children were amazed at how the commonest of birds can also be interesting.
Soon we reached the pond where a juvenile Brahminy kite had perched on a horizontal branch of a tree in full view. The children and their parents lined up to have a closer look through the telescope. As they watched the kite, a magnificent Grey heron landed nearby. With everyone’s attention now diverted, they were keen to see the new bird. Birds have a clever way of blending into their surroundings, however large or colourful they may be. Sweedle took this opportunity to explain how the analogue clock is used to describe the position of a bird on the field. The telescope was now focused on the Grey heron.
As we continued our walk we could hear the drawn-out, plaintive "swee-ee" of the Magpie robin and the fast, trisyllabic "chi-su-wee" of the Green warbler.
Soon we reached the fence beyond which was the Mithi River and Bandra Kurla Complex. The river has become a dumping ground due to decades of pollution from sewage, industrial waste and municipal garbage. In spite of this, many waders and other birds can be seen here, showing the resilience of our avian species. Black-winged stilts, common and wood sandpipers and some gulls were seen. Children and their parents once again lined up to get a close-up view from the telescope. Having seen and heard so many species of birds it was time to end the day’s session.
Rujuta concluded with a quick revision of the activities and names of birds seen and heard. We took our mandatory group photo with the magnificent Weeping Fig tree as a backdrop. Some enthusiastic children had fun swinging from its arial roots.
It was truly a wonderful morning amongst nature.
Most of us live in buildings or apartments and we all can see the city is fast becoming a concrete jungle. Many trees and green areas are making way for new buildings, new roads, metro etc. While new infrastructure is necessary for us, trees and nature are equally important. If all the trees and jungles are cut down, we will lose a great treasure that is our natural world. Because all the food we eat, the water we drink, every breath of air we breathe depends on this natural world. If we damage this natural world, we damage ourselves.
This program is aimed at generating curiosity for our natural world, among young children and adults alike so that we can protect our glorious gifts that nature has given us.
We hope all parents will encourage their children to participate in such nature activities in future too. And after this session, we are now sure that children will insist on their parents to do the same!!
We thank Adesh Shivkar for his meticulous planning, as always, although he couldn’t attend the session due to his prior commitments. We also thanks Sweedle Cerejo Shivkar, Sefi George, Amey Ketkar, Rujuta Phadke and Nivedita Kothare for their time and effort to make this session possible. Last but not the least we would like to thank Mr.Yuvraj Patil and Maharashtra Nature Park for graciously allowing us to use their premises free of cost.
This session was made possible with the active participation of:
Summer Scribbles is an artist-led brand that aims to spark curiosity and connection with nature through art. We design interactive products that invite people to notice and learn about the real species around us, cultivating an appreciation for their presence in our shared world. Summer Scribbles is founded by Sefi George, an illustrator and educator based in Mumbai. You can find her work here- linktree.com/sefisummerscribbles
Mumbai Birdwatchers Club is an informal community platform to bring back the charm and fun of birding together. It aims to strengthen the birding community in Mumbai and create enjoyable opportunities for new and experienced birders to explore local habitats, learn from one another, and appreciate the city’s wild spaces. MBC birdwalks are arranged voluntarily by birders, and are free for anyone to join. Walks are coordinated by experienced local birders only for smooth communication, not as leaders or authorities …. By birders, for birders – to bird together.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mumbaibirdwatchersclub
List of birds seen or heard by the group:
House Crow
Jungle Crow
Common Myna
Black Kite
Brahminy Kite
Coppersmith Barbet
Asian Koel
Black-crowned Night Heron
Grey Heron
Pond Heron
Little Cormorant
Common Kingfisher
Rock Pigeon
Black-winged Stilt
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Indian Paradise Flycatcher
Heard only :
White-throated Kingfisher
Oriental Magpie Robin
Additional birds seen or heard by our volunteers:
Little Stint
Pacific Golden Plover
Gull-billed Tern
Brown-headed Gull
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Common Snipe
Lesser Sand Plover
Little-ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Common Redshank
Indian Grey Hornbill
Purple-rumped Sunbird
Ashy Drongo
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Red-vented Bulbul
Golden Oriole
Common Tailorbird
Heard only (by our volunteers)
Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
Green Warbler
Hume’s Warbler
Blyth’s Reed Warbler
Spotted Dove
