Duck Empire

Birds are resourceful and delightful to observe as they go about foraging. A SMALL BIRD called Indian Tit, finds a prospective prize within the exfoliating bark of a tree. It clears the way with its beak and manages to pull out the prize, that had fixed itself inside the bark with stubborn strands. Amazing how a single tree can support so much biodiversity from arthropods, birds, reptiles, fungi-the list goes on. Even a single branch. Then imagine what a whole forest can do? Different species of tree, supports a different fauna and even flora that thrive on it or call it their habitat. That is the importance of mixed forests, especially ancient forests. So, when you destroy hectares and kilometers of ancient forests, then compensatory afforestation of monocultures somewhere else will not make the cut as far as biodiversity goes, though it may count as increased green cover. Let’s protect our ancient forests, wildlife reserves- no replacement can be as good. By all means go about planting more trees. Watch w