Harsukhbhai Dobariya: The birdman of Junagadh

Modest means have not stopped Harsukhbhai Dobariya from spending part of his income to feed birds

Monsoon is summer for Harsukhbhai Dobariya. For the four months of the monsoon season between June and September, the septuagenarian wakes up daily at 5 am, wraps up his morning chores hurriedly before stationing himself at his farm by 6 am.
 
Within half an hour, hundreds of parrots and sparrows are perched on the 55-square-foot-wide structure made out of steel rods on his four-acre farmland, pecking at pearl millet cobs. The birds have their fill till 10 am before flying back, only to return  by 3 pm for another round till 6 in the evening. At the end of the day, Dobariya, his son and grandson remove the cobs to prepare the structure again for the next day.

 
This is the routine that Dobariya, a resident of Junagadh, has come to live and love for the last 17 years. 
 

“I had read somewhere that feeding birds brings good fortune,” Dobariya says. “I experimented with it in 2000 when I hung a pearl millet cob at the backyard, which leads into the farm. It soon attracted a parrot. I repeated the exercise a few times and found more birds coming in. Soon it became a routine.”
 
Today, a span of four months sees thousands of parrots and various species of sparrows, including the yellow sparrow, travelling from as far as 50 km away to feed on the cobs at Dobariya’s farm. While he has outsourced much of the land for farming that earns him a modest Rs 30,000 per annum, part of it has been retained for the structure to place pearl millet cobs and peanuts for feeding birds.

 
An innovator and itinerant speaker at events on the environment, Dobariya’s farm has attracted national and international attention, the latest being a Sristi Samman award for bird conservation presented by Pranab Mukherjee when he was president. Dobariya’s experience in both horticulture and aviculture is evident when he explains why he fixes pearl millet cobs vertically on equidistant holes made in the rods.
 
“I have found that birds are unable to digest 40 per cent of their food when they are fed scattered grains,” Dobariya says. “I have watched them enjoy their food, as if they are plucking the pearl millet right from the standing crop in the fields.”

 
Traditionally a farmer, Dobariya also runs a small family business of home-made fryums, poppadom, organic seeds, organic fruits and vegetables. A constant innovator, he has come up with a variety of potato that is grown on the surface and not underground.
 
Dobariya prides himself that although only for four months, he is able to feed the birds on his own, without any financial support. Besides the annual income from the outsourced farming work, he spends an additional Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.20 lakh from his earnings at Gokul Gruh Udyog.
 
“People from overseas and within the country have several times offered to help, but I have declined. I am content spending on the birds on my own,” he says.

 
Over the years, Dobariya has also played caretaker for the young ones of thousands of birds. Apart from ensuring food and safety from other animals, Dobariya and his family offer shelter to the birds within their home during the monsoon rains.
 
The whole of monsoon sees more than 100,000 parrots, sparrows and other species benefiting from his passion, Dobariya estimates. Despite heavy rains in Saurashtra this year, the influx of birds has been as steady as ever, says Dobariya, even as he plans to restock pearl millet for the next few days.