The winged beauties of Havanje

A huge pictorial board featuring colourful birds such as the greater coucal, Indian paradise flycatcher, Malabar pied hornbill and the rufous hummingbird attracts the attention of onlookers walking past Mepal lake in Havanje village in Udupi district.

A casual walk in the village also reveals pictorial boards at Kambalabettu, Dasabettu, Irmadi and Muggeri, localities in the village. These boards feature many more winged beauties. Apart from being a visual delight, the informative boards inspire people to learn more about these birds.

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"It all started five years ago," says Janardana Havanje, founder-director of Bhaasa Gallery and Studio in Havanje. The artist began by identifying various birds, and gathering information about the species out of curiosity. He also started drawing their pictures. 

Gradually, some like-minded friends and villagers joined him. They came together to form a team of birdwatchers, ‘Havanjeya Hakkigalu’ (birds of Havanje).

The birdwatching events are supported by the Bhavana Foundation, a local NGO, and the Biodiversity Management Committee of Havanje Gram Panchayat. The first event was held in the village in September 2022, and 10 such events have been held since. As many as 200 bird species have been identified to date.

There are currently 25 active members in the group, which includes 15 children. 

Apart from the regular birdwatching programmes conducted every month, around 18 mini birdwatching programmes have also been conducted for schoolchildren. Now, the children are able to identify many birds in the region. They are encouraged to draw pictures of the birds they have identified.

Artistic postcards

Moving a step further, Bhaasa Gallery and Studio brought out a set of 32 postcards titled 'Birds of Havanje', featuring 32 bird species out of the 70 identified during the birdwatching programmes organised jointly by birdwatchers' groups of Havanje and Manipal.

Each card is priced at Rs 25, and a set is priced at Rs 650. The studio plans to bring the next set of postcards out along with a book and fridge magnets.

"The main purpose of bringing out the postcards is to create awareness on birds. Commercially, it is not a profitable venture, considering the monetary investment, time and effort taken in painting, design and digital printing,” Janardana says.

The postcards act as a piece of art and also as material for creating awareness, says Bhagyashree, a customer from Bengaluru. “When I came to know about these postcards, as a bird photographer and birdwatcher, I made sure to add them to my collection. I send them to my friends, as it is a special feeling to mail these artistic postcards,” she adds.

Children should be made familiar with birds, and colourful postcards are a good medium for this purpose, says Rajesh Shrivana, an avid birdwatcher. He has been following the initiatives of the Havanje bird enthusiasts through social media. “It will also make them aware of their responsibility to protect the birds,” he adds.

The pictures have been hand-painted by artists who work with the gallery. It took the artists around three days to paint each bird on metal sheets with oil paint, using pictures of the birds as references. The hand-painted pictures of birds were later transferred to the computer and printed.

Artist Shrinivasa Achar says the project offered a learning experience. He worked for about 15 days along with others.

Boost for birdwatching

The localites call the information boards in Havanje 'hakki boardu' (birds' board) and the postcards ‘hakki cardu' (birds' card).

Havanje Gram Panchayat Development Officer Divya S says the informative boards make the villagers feel proud about the biodiversity in their region and act as reminders to protect it. 

The boards and postcards were launched on June 5 to mark World Environment Day. "An exhibition of 75 posters of birds was conducted by schoolchildren. They presented on the birds, explaining how our lives are linked to them," Divya says.

Tejaswi Acharya, a trustee of the Manipal Birding and Conservation Trust, who has been actively taking part in the birdwatching programmes, lauds the efforts in Havanje. “Other gram panchayats too should emulate this example as efforts of this kind help to support birdwatching in the region,” he says.