Even though ‘Salim Ali’ is the name that comes to mind when we say ‘Ornithology’, there are many who flourished under the great banyan tree that he was. Undoubtedly, he gave voice and aroused concern about the state of avian diversity in India; he also inspired many from the younger generation around him to take up the study of bird life in India. Asad Rahmani was one of his disciples who in many ways took the mantle from him and gave a new fillip to this study. The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a period when new sciences opened up and branched off from a parent field. In India, ornithology was in its infancy for a long period and it may not be wrong to say that study of bird habitat and behaviour is a colonial gift. Few of us know that AO Hume, a British administrator and the founder of the Indian National Congress, was a pioneer in this field.
Unlike Hume who was an administrator, and Salim Ali who was a self-trained scientist, Rahmani is a practicing ornithologist with a Ph.D. in Zoology.
September 2025, volume 49, No 9