A Bird in the Hand

Colorful dimond-shaped paper kites are a common sight in the sky in and around Old Delhi. Children fly them from rooftops and parking lots, showing amazing skill in avoiding buildings and trees. But kites are fragile things with short life spans, and stray strings from deceased kites can be found dangling from trees and buildings, threatening to snare unsuspecting passerbyes. During our recent trip to old Delhi (see last post) we got tangled up with a kite of a different sort.

Near the fishnet salesman we ran into some lose nylon threads hanging off a roof-top. While untangling the stray strings from my hair, we noticed that the other end was attached to something above - something large and alive and unhappy - a huge black bird perched on the gutter of the overhead building! As we watched, the bird opened its wings and took off, only to tumble across the road and crash behind a row of autorickshaws.



Our wildlife biologist instincts kicked in, and upon investigation, we found the bird wiped out on the ground entangled in fishing line wrapped around its wings. It was a black kite (Milvus migrans), a ubiquitous bird of prey in the Delhi area. After throwing a shirt over its head to guard against the sharp beak, we cut the restrictive fishing line and placed the bird up on a wall out of the way. "It's dead" insisted the local chai-walla. But almost immediatly the black kite took off and flew away, returning to the sky to join the colorful paper kites dancing over the city.

Work Time

Contrary to what you all may be thinking based on the content of my posts, I am actually doing some work here. Upon arriving in Delhi in early December, I showed up on the doorstep of my affiliation here in India, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a non-profit organization tackling a variety of environmental policy and research issues including renewable energy, sustainable development, natural resource management and climate change issues. I am now working with TERI's Center for Global Environment Research on two of their ongoing adaptation to climate change projects. In one, a study of coastal vulnerably to climate change in one of India's southern states, I will be working to identify indicators through which to assess the vulnerability of various ecosystem services to climate change-induced changes in sea level and water salinity. In the other, I will be looking at the use of stakeholder involvement in the identification of agricultural adaptation measures to changing water resource availability in north-central India. In the next few weeks I hope to accompany staff members on several field visits in conjunction with these projects.

TERI is housed in the India Habitat Center, a massive and impressive building complex on Lodi Road in South Delhi. This facility also hosts several other NGOs, a hotel, a theater and gallery space, and several restaurants, including my personal favorite, a dingy room in the underground parking garage where a heaping thali (fixed price plate of north-Indian food) can be had for 30 rupies (about 65 cents). The location isn't great, but you can't beat the value!