Salim Ali was a legendary figure whose works paved way to the development of ornithology.

"Salim Ali will be remembered as the man who taught Indians to appreciate, to study at first hand, to treasure, to work towards conserving the rich living heritage of the country." - Madhav Gadgil.

In India, Dr. Salim Ali is a name that is inevitable in all the discussions related to birds. To be more precise, Ali, even after so many years since his demise, is still a hero of all the avid bird lovers out there. Being a genius ornithologist and naturalist, he was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across the nation and abroad. Also, he wrote numerous important books such as 'The Book of Indian Birds', 'The Fall of a Sparrow', 'Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent', 'Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan' (which was co-written by the celebrated ornithologist S Dillon Ripley) etc. On the other hand, he challenged several mainstream ideas and went on to spread the awareness of wildlife conservation at various places. His research works, which were done with a lot of love and patience, brought a huge revolution in the world of ornithology and natural history. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976, which are the third and second highest civilian honours respectively in India.

Now, read ahead to know more about the Birdman of India.

After losing parents at a very early age, Ali was raised by his maternal uncle Amiruddin Tyabji, who was a hunter and nature-lover.

He was introduced to the study of birds by his uncle W. S. Millard, who was the then secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

In 1926, he started working as a guide lecturer at the natural history section of the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay (present-day Mumbai). After two years, he went to Germany to work under the guidance of Professor Erwin Stresemann at the Berlin Zoological Museum. He returned to India in 1930 and devoted his life into the research on birds.

In 1930, Ali published a research paper in which he discussed the nature, lifestyle and activities of the weaver birds. This paper earned him a lot of acclaim from all around the world.

He worked a lot to preserve the Bombay Natural History Society in the post-independence era.

Ali, for his pathbreaking works, once received an international award of INR 5 lacs and donated all the money to the Bombay Natural History Society. Also, he received the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize of INR 1 lakh, which he used for the Salim Ali Nature Conservation Fund.

Remember the role of Akshay Kumar in the 2018 sci-fi movie '2. O'? Well, that character is inspired by Dr. Salim Ali.