Meet Hyderabadi ornithologist Aasheesh Pittie, who has become first Asian to win H.H. Bloomer Award

Hyderabad: Author and birder Aasheesh Pittie recently won the prestigious H.H. Bloomer Award for his contributions to ornithology. Hailing from Hyderabad, he is the first Asian to win this prestigious award.

The award presented by the Linnean Society of London. This honour, Pittie says, belongs to every backyard birder and sky-gazing naturalist who has felt the joy of discovery.

The Linnean Society in London was founded in 1788, and is the oldest learned society devoted to the science of natural history. It is a non-profit organisation focusing on delivering charitable objectives of science, heritage and education through activities, events and publications.

NM: Tell us about your early life and where you studied?

Aasheesh: I lived in our ancestral family haveli in Begum Bazaar for the first 27 years of my life. Books and reading were a large part of my pastime, as was listening to classical music (both, Hindustani, and Western). Not that I restricted myself to those two musical streams. I was a voracious reader of fiction and literature.

My schooling was in the first co-ed school of Hyderabad, Vidyaranya High School for Boys and Girls. After the ICSE exam in the 10th, I went to Wesley Junior College near Paradise, Secunderabad, and then graduated in Commerce from Badruka College.

The liberal school education, with space for free thinking and engaging with our teachers, regarding education as an organic activity rather than one necessitating draconian disciplinary behaviour, the pragmatic approach of our teachers to imparting and imbibing knowledge were all conducive to developing our young minds and profoundly foundational in my formative years. I consider them my true education; what happened subsequently was academic.

NM: What sparked your interest in ornithology?

Aasheesh: It was a talk in school by the late Capt. N. S. Tyabji (Retd), that ignited the flame. I was always interested in wildlife, and the WWF-India’s posters of that era were particularly endearing. Behind them was information on how to become a member of the organization. In their newsletter, I learnt about Dr Salim Ali and the Bombay Natural History Society, of which I became a member. Then one thing led to another. Once I glimpsed birds through binoculars, I was hooked. Also, birdwatching is an ideal pastime for an introvert.

NM: Tell us a little about your publications and your book The Living Air.

Aasheesh: I read a great deal when I was young, and that habit continues to date. I always felt the urge to express my thoughts, and so began writing letters to the editor of local newspapers and then articles for these newspapers on the wilderness around me. As my interest deepened, often becoming academic, I wrote increasingly for journals. But I blogged intermittently too.

The Living Air: The Pleasures of Birds and Birdwatching is, essentially, a compilation of most of those writings. It also showcases an older style of birdwatching; more analog in nature, with handwritten notes, field sketches, etc., than digital, whether photography or web-based notes aggregating.

NM: What have been your most memorable sightings so far?

Aasheesh: Every bird is special for me, and every sighting too, however ‘common’ or ‘ordinary’ a bird might be. As Mark Cocker says in his introduction to my book, “Truth be told, there are no ordinary birds, no ordinary life. It is all exceptional …”

NM: What is the H.H. Bloomer Award? Please explain.

Aasheesh: The H. H. Bloomer Award is awarded to an amateur naturalist for an important contribution to the knowledge of natural history. It was established in 1963 from a legacy by the late Harry Howard Bloomer FLS.

It has certain criteria that need to be met before a nomination: Open to any amateur* naturalist of any nationality and age, in any field of natural history, for their important contribution to the knowledge of natural history.

For the Award, an ‘amateur naturalist’ would be an individual with no current or previous paid employment in the field under consideration. Rather, they should have pursued their interest out of sheer curiosity and passion.

Teachers are eligible, as are those working in areas of environmental or educational policy.

Nominee cannot, at the time of nomination, be a member of the Council. Nominee does not need to be a Fellow of the Society.

We do not accept self-nominations.

NM: It is a great honour. Have any other Indians received this award before you?

Aasheesh: Thank you! This is the first time, since its inception in 1963, that an Asian has been nominated. I did not even know that such an award existed, till I got the letter from The Linnean Society!

NM: What are the birds you have recently seen in Telangana?

Aasheesh: Most of my birding is in and around Hyderabad. KBR National Park is a regular haunt. Though the number of peafowl is an irritant, as are the hordes of feral pigeons, there are moments of magic when I see rarer Deccan Plateau dry scrub species like the Blue-faced Malkoha, or the skulking Sirkeer Cuckoo. Then there is the comical fantailed flycatcher, and the stunning Paradise Flycatcher. Indian Golden Orioles take my breath away.

NM: Is the future safe for migratory birds coming to India? Mention a few birds and the places where they are migrating from when they come to Telangana and India, and the challenges they face.

Aasheesh: Migration, by itself, is a fraught process in which enormous geographical distances are covered by the birds, mostly to escape inclement weather for more tolerable climes. Several flyways have been identified over the Earth that birds use on their transcontinental journeys.

Some flying from the North Pole to the South Pole, like the godwits, a one-way trip of over 40,000 km. Then they return! Birds that migrate to or pass through India either emigrate from regions of old USSR, Tibet, or Himalayas. The Bar-headed Goose flies over the highest mountains in the world, on its journey from Tibet to India.

The future of migratory birds is linked to the climatic patterns of the Earth, which are being affected increasingly by human activities. Changes like delays or early occurrences in the life cycles of the Earth’s life systems greatly affect the biological clocks of migratory birds. If the birds arrive at their breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere early, before the snow melts, or spring’s vegetation blooms, which provides an abundance of insect food birds catch to feed their young, their populations crash. This imbalance is happening across all habitats to the detriment of all forms of non-human life. Global warming, climate change, ozone layer depletion, increasingly elevated levels of pollution, and the dangerous usage of highly toxic and harmful chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers are not fancy catch-phrases but real dangers with catastrophic results.

Some of Aasheesh Pittie’s Books:

A Bibliography of South Asian Ornithology 1713 to 2022. Fourth edition (2025).

The Living Air: The Pleasures of Birds and Birdwatching (2023).

The written bird: Birds in books 2 (2022).

Birds in books: Three hundred years of South Asian ornithology (2010).