prayagraj a local surgeon specialising in advanced laparoscopy of cancer has passionately followed his hobby of birdwatching so much so that he has now found a place in the coveted list of top 100 ebirders of indiaat the young age of 35 dr arpit bansal has captured stunning images of 1018 out of 1353 bird species of india making him the first medical doctor in india to see or click pictures of over 1000 bird species and thus claim 20th position in the ebirds list of top 100 ebirders of indiahis name has been included in the prestigious 100 ebirders of india by ebirdsorg which is one of the worlds largest online database of birds launched in 2002 by the cornell lab of ornithology of cornell university and the national audubon society to document the presence and absence of bird species the world overits a great honour to be listed as one of the top 100 ebirders of india by this prestigious organization in which more than 100 million bird sightings are recorded every year i have taken images of 1018 around 75 of 1353 bird species found in india in their natural habitat latest being the picture of firetailed myzornis myzornis pyrrhoura which i clicked in mandala arunachal pradesh said dr bansal while talking to toi on mondaythe most cherished moment of my photographic journey was when i clicked the picture of the 1000th bird specie of the snow partridge at the sela pass in arunachal pradesh the picture was shot at an altitude of 13700 feet in the extreme weather conditions of snow and cold gusty winds he addeddr bansal had sighted the extremely rare and endangered mottled wood owl strix ocellata in prayagraj in october last year this owl has been listed as a threatened species on the international union for conservation of nature iucn red list since 2016he has also clicked the himalayan bird blyths tragopan in mishmi hills of arunachal pradesh it is a paradise for birdwatchers besides endemic birds several eastern himalayan species which are very difficult to find elsewhere in the region can be easily sighted herewe were camping near the roing town and could hear the call of the male tragopan echoing over the valley breaking the stillness of the dawn and revealing the general location of this shy pheasant to us i sat with the camera waiting for hours to get a glimpse of the bird but with no luck on the second day of the trip little did i expect that i would get pictures of male blyths tragopan which showed up from the dense forest just 10 meters away from me and silently crossed the road he sharedthe medico also launches a desk calendar every year featuring pictures of some rarely seen birds clicked by him so that more and more people could be encouraged for conservation of these endangered species of indian birds