31/05/2021
We have received a condolence message from Robert L. Fleming
thanking his immense contribution in ornithology of Nepal
Robert L. Fleming memories of Hari Sharan Nepali (KAZI)
“Kazi was a very special person and we pray that his spirit will have a smooth onward journey. As a friend for over many decades he was always smiling and so hospitable and ever helpful. His passing marks the end of an era, the first stage of Nepalese involvement in the ornithology of Nepal. Before Kazi’s time there was much initial research into the bird life of Nepal, starting in the 1820s with Brian Hodgson and his collecting team. But up until the time of Kazi, this information was gathered by outsiders.
In 1949, when my father first arrived in Nepal on a bird collecting expedition that traveled up the Kali Gandaki Valley as far as Jomson,he found Nepalese who had an interest in birds, but this was limited to Kalij Pheasants and Red Junglefowl, and the occasional duck. His was still the case in 1953 when our family crossed the Chandragiri Pass into the Kathamndu Valley: birds for dinner was understandably a priority.
Then we were introduced to Kazi who, to our surprise, had a knowledge of birds that ranged well beyond the table. And from that time on then our paths crossed and recrossed as we ventured together around Kathmandu Valley and then beyond.
As an example of Kazi’s contribution, in Decembers during the 1970s we organized one-day bird counts in the Kathmandu valley. At that stage, we could muster only three teams: one for the Valley floor, one for Shivpuri and one for Phulchowki. Kazi headed the Shivpuri-Nagarjun team while my father surveyed the banks of the Bagmati and beyond, and I undertook the drive up to the top of Phukchowi. We would have opted for more groups but in those days no one other than Kazi was capable of leading a team. Three small groups is a very thin number when trying to locate the some 200 bird species that might occur within the Valley in December.
Nepal with its biologically central location in Asia and its altitudinal variations is a natural history treasure house and today we are well into the second stage of Nepalese ornithology with a wonderful cadre of Nepalese promoting our appreciation of birds and how birds are a vital element in conservation efforts that lead to the welfare of the people of Nepal. The rise of these young folks is one of Kazi’s lasting legacies, and his contributions to our understanding of Nepal’s birds will be another.
May his spirit long hover over and protect the birds and people of Nepal”.
Picture by: David Ide
