Question

Birdman of India/ most famous ornithologist of India is
A) Salim Ali
B) Vishwanathan
C) Kashyap
D) Hussain

Answer 1

Hint: This famous ornithologist was associated with the creation of the Bharatpur Bird sanctuary and also prevented the destruction of Silent Valley National Park. He was honored with Padma Bhushan in 1958 and Padma Vibhushan in 1976. Some bird sanctuaries, institutions and several species of birds are named after him.

Complete Answer:
A) Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was a naturalist and ornithologist of India. He was the first Indian ornithologist who conducted various systemic bird surveys across India and also authored several bird books, for e.g. Book of Indian Birds, Handbook of birds of India and Pakistan and several regional field guides like- The Birds of Gujarat, Birds of the Eastern Himalayas, etc. He also wrote several journal articles that were published in the ‘Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society’. Because of his enormous contributions to the field of Ornithology, he is also known as the Birdman of India.

B) Vishwanathan Anand is an Indian Chess player. He is the first Indian chess grandmaster and also a former world chess champion.

C) T. B. Kashyap is an award-winning poet and author who portrayed the mysterious suicide of birds in the village of Assam through his poem.

D) S. A. Hussain was an Indian ornithologist who worked along with Salim Ali at Bombay Natural History Society. His earlier publications were mostly based on the study of bird collection at Bombay Natural History Society.

Note: Ornithology is defined as the branch of biology that involves the study of birds. The habitat, migration patterns, food habits, etc. of various birds are studied under this. It has basically three aspects- collection, field-based research and laboratory-based research.