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By:

Vinod Chavan

30 September 2025 at 3:04:23 pm

Birder Cop finds an Australian tagged bird

Latur: G. Thikanna, serving in the Andaman Police Department as an Assistant Sub-Inspector in Communications was posted on one of the most remote and lesser-inhabited islands in the world to complete a one-month tenure. This island lies about 140 nautical miles away from the capital city, far from his family and loved ones in Port Blair. Life there is challenging, with no mobile network and no regular power supply. The only source of electricity is a portable generator that runs for about...

Birder Cop finds an Australian tagged bird

Latur: G. Thikanna, serving in the Andaman Police Department as an Assistant Sub-Inspector in Communications was posted on one of the most remote and lesser-inhabited islands in the world to complete a one-month tenure. This island lies about 140 nautical miles away from the capital city, far from his family and loved ones in Port Blair. Life there is challenging, with no mobile network and no regular power supply. The only source of electricity is a portable generator that runs for about three hours a day just enough to charge communication devices and essential equipment. This was his second visit to the island in 2025. On the morning of June 16, 2025, during a routine inspection of the shoreline, he noticed a small bird moving along with the tidal waves. What caught his attention, however, was that the bird was having some colour tags on it legs. The photographs revealed that the bird had three tags: a red flag leg above the knee and a yellow tag under the knee on it right leg. The left leg had a metal ring. The red flag had a code which read DYM. In March 2026, Dr. Raju Kasambe, ornithologist and former Assistant Director at Bombay Natural History Society, and founder of Mumbai Bird Katta, visited South Andaman for a birding trip by his venture. Thikanna shared his observation and photographs with him. Dr. Kasambe took great interest and asked Thikanna to send the photographs. He identified the bird as Sanderling (Calidris alba), which breeds in the extreme northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. After studying the shorebird Colour Marking Protocol for the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) Dr. Kasambe realized that the bird was tagged in South Australia. He informed the EEAF team and Ms. Katherine Leung reverted with the information about the tagging of this tiny migratory wader, which weighs just 40-100gramms. The wader was tagged on 13 April 2025 by Ms. Maureen Christie at the Danger Pt, Brown Bay, near Port Macdonnell, in South Australia. That means the wader had reached Narcondam Island after two months and three days on its return journey back the its breeding grounds in extreme northern parts of Asia. The straight-line distance the bird had flown was an amazing 7472km and it hadn’t yet reached its final destination – the breeding grounds. This is first record of resighting of any tagged bird on the Narcondam Island, as the island remains mostly inaccessible to bird watchers. Interesting, the Island is home to the endemic Narcondam Hornbill, a species which is not found anywhere in the world. Mr. G. Thikanna is associated with the Andaman avians Club which conducted bird watching and towards creating awareness about birds in the Andaman Island. Other members of the club have congratulated him on the great find in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Mosques, madrassas open for displaced border residents

  • PTI
  • May 8, 2025
  • 3 min read
Locals from different areas along the India-Pakistan border being brought to a temporary camp at Mishriwala area in Jammu district on Thursday. Pic: PTI
Locals from different areas along the India-Pakistan border being brought to a temporary camp at Mishriwala area in Jammu district on Thursday. Pic: PTI

Jammu: The doors of all mosques and madrassas in the Jammu region are open for the displaced border residents, prominent Muslim scholar Mufti Sageer Ahmad said on Thursday, as he joined dozens of youngsters to donate blood for the victims of Pakistani shelling here.


The blood donation camp was organised by the Madrassa Markaz-ul-Maarif at Bathindi, near here, following an appeal by social activists after intense Pakistani shelling in Poonch district on Wednesday left 13 people dead and 44 injured.


"We have set up this camp in view of the tense situation on the borders so that there is no shortage of blood in our hospitals.... Islam teaches us that saving one life is like saving the entire humanity," Ahmad, who is also the head of the institute, said.


He said the country and its people need them at this crucial juncture and they have come forward to donate blood for those injured on the borders.

"We have kept our madrassas (Islamic seminaries) and masjids ready for the border residents if they are to be relocated. It is the teachings of Islam and we are adhering to it. If we can save a human life, we are saving the humanity," Ahmad said.


Blood donation

He said both teachers and students are voluntarily donating blood and more than 50 units have so far been collected which will be deposited in the blood bank of the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu.


"We are ready to extend our support to people irrespective of their religion. We are there to cooperate with anyone, whether it is someone from the administration or from the public," he said.


Many mosques and madrassas across the Jammu region are affiliated with the Markaz.


Volunteers and political activists organised blood-donation camps at different places over the past two days, while the Jammu High Court Bar Association is also planning to hold such an event in the district court complex here on Friday.


"In this current time of conflict, understanding its responsibility towards humanity, the association is organising a blood-donation camp to meet the shortage of blood in the blood banks at Jammu," the lawyers' body said, requesting members to come forward and voluntarily donate blood.


Meanwhile, the Jamia Zia-ul-Islam, an educational institute, is providing accommodation to about 50 people, mostly border residents who were evacuated amid intense cross-border shelling the previous day.


"The Jamia Zia-ul-Islam stands by the people of the country in this difficult situation. If any person living on the border needs any help, the institution is there to help," its spokesperson said.


Maulana Iqbal not terrorist: Police

Jammu: Maulana Iqbal was not a terrorist but a respected religious figure who lost his life along with 12 others in heavy Pakistani shelling in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, police said on Thursday.


The Jammu and Kashmir Police came out with a clarification on the 45-year-old Iqbal after certain media outlets and social media platforms circulated "baseless and misleading" reports, claiming that he was a top terrorist and was killed in a missile strike by Indian armed forces across the border.


"Any media outlet, journalist, or individual found indulging in the circulation of such fake news shall be liable for legal action as warranted under relevant provisions of law," police said in a statement.


Iqbal, a resident of Baila village in Mandi tehsil, was killed when a mortar shell hit his Madrasa Zia-ul-Uloom in Poonch city on Wednesday. A gurdwara and a temple were also hit by the indiscriminate Pakistani shelling in the district, claiming 13 lives, including that of a soldier, four children and two women.

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