![]() “It was an eyeopener for me,” adds Agnihotri. ![]() The greater racket-talied drongo is called ko:luka:ra (rod bearer) – a title given to a Soliga elder responsible for maintaining peace and order. “They are intimately aware of every aspect of their jungle home, and their everyday conversations are full of commentary on the health of the forest, the seasonal appearance of key organisms such as migratory honeybees, the movements of large mammals like elephants, or the local extinction of culturally important medicinal plants due to ecological change,” he says. He added that the Soliga’s knowledge and deep connection with the forest made them perfect allies for conservationists. “In Soliga culture, birds act as portents of danger by warning travellers of dangerous animals, as observers of and commentators on human morality, as indicators of the passing of the seasons, and so much more.” “Birds are mysterious and magical creatures for many cultures, and this is definitely true for the Soliga as well,” says Si. The drongo is called ko:luka:ra (rod bearer) – a title given to a Soliga elder responsible for maintaining peace and order – because of its ability to attract birds of other species into mixed flocks and its possible role in maintaining those groups.Īgnihotri started documenting the Soliga’s knowledge of birds in collaboration with Aung Si, a postdoctoral fellow in the linguistics department of Cologne University. She is documenting their traditional food, medicine, folklore and songs. ![]() Samira Agnihotri, second from right, walks in the forest with Soliga women. The Soliga have songs for many of the birds found in their forests which describe the behaviour of the birds, what they eat, their calls and more. Like most researchers who work in the forests of the Western Ghats, Agnihotri looked for help from an indigenous tribal community, the Soliga people, whose immense knowledge about the landscape helped her to track the drongo. “We know, from our observations of mated pairs defending nests, that both sexes mimic, but we don’t know more because males and females look alike – you can’t tell them apart in the wild,” she says.Īgnihotri found that the mimicry was used to attract mates, but also observed the bird using mimicry when it was threatened, especially when nesting, and when it was feeding alongside other bird species in what are called mixed hunting parties or mixed-species flocks. Birds are mysterious and magical creatures for many cultures Aung Si, Cologne University Most species that imitate other birds only do so in the breeding season, but the racket-tailed drongo seems to do so year round. During her doctoral research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, Agnihotri tried to find out why this species is such a mimic.
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