Ornithologist conducts the first successful study of the "primitive" bird in captivity.
The Spiny Babler, shrubland bird, shy bird, or love bird, is found only in Nepal. So, Nepal is as much the land of the Spiny Babler as it is of Mount Everest. And this Nepali bird has been hatched in captivity for the first time by a biologist-cum-ornithologist, Dr. Tej Kumar Shrestha.
Shrestha, an associate member of the Royal Nepal Academy for Science and Technology (RONAST), and last year's recipient of the Third World Award on Sciences (TWAS) for biological sciences, has been engaged in the detailed study of the Spiny Babler, and in particular its hitherto unknown hatching habits. He has surmounted all kinds of odds to continue his research, including a lack of finance and physical facilities.
He has transformed an entire room of his home into a bird-house, using branches, soil, grass and other flora to recreate a natural enviroment removed from people and noise. Meanwhile, the parent bablers were released in the Kakani forest 37 kilometers from Kathmandu with a metallic tag tied to their feet.