Book summary

The book entitled “Birds of My Backyard in Delhi Cantonment” by Dr Manoj K Semwal is essentially a coffee table book. It contains over 90 photographs of 36 species of birds along with interesting observations or anecdotes from the author about them. That too from the perspective of a non-expert on the subject. The author is a physicist and not an ornithologist but is certainly a nature lover. Many of the photographs in the book are quite engaging and tell their own fascinating stories. The readers also have an opportunity to feel the footprint of nature even in a megacity like Delhi and realize that bird watching around them could be so much fun. Almost all the photographs in the book were clicked around the courtyard of the author’s house mostly either from the front or the back verandah of the house. The pictures of the tiny sparrows are an exception as they were surprisingly never observed in the courtyard. The readers may be curious to know as to why sparrow, the State Bird of Delhi, was altogether missing. Some additional information on the birds and flora of Delhi to enhance the experience of the readers is from sources that are duly cited in the book.