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Why this woman left a career in architecture to catalogue bird feathers

Goodyear, Sheena
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/indian-architect-launches-feather-library-1.6726106

Publisher:  CBC
Date Written:  26/01/2023
Year Published:  2023  
Resource Type:  Article

During the pandemic lockdowns, Munshi took a two-year online course on bird biology from Cornell University. And now, instead of designing buildings, she puts her aesthetic skills to use by collecting, photographing, measuring and cataloguing the wings and feathers of India's more than 1,300 bird species.

Abstract: 
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Extract:

Munshi teamed up with aviary curator Sherwin Everett to create the Feather Library, an online database of Indian bird feathers. It's the first collection of its kind in India, and one of only a handful around the world.

The idea came to her during lockdown when people were mostly inside, and birds were out in full force, she said.

One day she spotted an Indian silverbill outside her home, a species of passerine birds that only grows to about 11 centimetres in length.

While Munshi loves birds, she also has cats, so she has bird netting installed to protect them from her pet predators. But the tiny silverbill managed to slip thorough.

"My cat rushed to attack it, and I happened to rescue [the bird] right in time and release it back. But, in fright, birds tend to lose some of their feathers, and that's what this little bird did," she said.

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