City birder Srinivas joins elite group with 400 bird records

Hyderabad birder Mallela Srinivas has joined a select group of photographers documenting 400 bird species in Telangana. Since 2018, he has toured extensively, capturing rare birds like the spot-bellied eagle owl and contributing checklists to eBird

Hyderabad: Mallela Srinivas, an avid birder and one of the authorities on the subject from the city, has joined a select band of photographers who have documented 400 bird species.

For the Hotel Management graduate from Osmania University, now working as Senior Manager, Food and Beverages for Curated Living Solutions Private Ltd, Bengaluru, it all began in 2018 at Edulabad Lake when he was fascinated watching birds.

“Well, initially bike riding was my hobby and when I used to see these wonderful birds, I slowly moved towards photography, trying to freeze some of these wonderful species which gave me so much joy,” said the 37-year-old Srinivas.

“I used to visit Osmania University to watch and photograph birds. I was introduced to the birdwatching group HBP by one of my friends from VIBGYOR, a well-known photography group led by Indranil Mukherjee,” he said.

“Later on, I became a regular for most of the bird walks on weekends and was privileged to join some of the best photographer teams too,” Srinivas said.

“Watching and photographing owls, quails and raptors is my favourite subject. From September 2018, I started documenting birds and uploading eBird checklists from Edulabad Lake,” said Srinivas, regarded as one of the finest photographers from the city.

“I have toured extensively many hotspots for birding in Telangana including Ameenpur, Osmania University, Manjeera Dam, Ananthagiri Hills, Amrabad Tiger Reserve, Singur Dam, Pakhal Lake, Bheemunipadam Waterfalls, Pocharam Dam, Narsapur Forest, Osmansagar Lake, Mokila, Nizamabad, Sirnapally Waterfalls, Kawal Tiger Reserve, Bejjur Forest Range, Gubbala Mangamma Temple, LMD Karimnagar, Indian Rice Research Institute, ICRISAT, Chincholi, Narayankhed, Amavaripeta Cheruvu, Himayatsagar Lake and other parts of Telangana to document and photograph birds and contribute checklists to eBird,” he explained.

“For me the toughest bird to document was the spot-bellied eagle owl which I captured inside Amrabad Tiger Reserve in January 2020. It was a memorable one-hour trek inside the core zone to photograph this wonderful species,” Srinivas recalled.

“Telangana region has overall 451 species as per eBird. The first person to document 400 species was seasoned birder Sriram Reddy with 426 species, second was Phani with 411 species, third was Gopal Iyer with 409 species, and I am the fourth individual to document 400 plus in Telangana with a count of 403,” he said proudly, while acknowledging fellow birders’ feats.

“Interestingly, my recent trip to Karimnagar helped me add new birds to my eBird list — Indian Skimmers, Steppe Gulls and Pallas Gulls,” he said.

Srinivas signs off with a tinge of disappointment, pointing out that due to destruction of forests, mining and loss of habitats, birdwatching these days has become tough to sight and document species.