Shyamsundar Mishra with his exotic collection of birds at his breeding farm in Bhubaneswar.Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, March 10: Shyamsundar Mishra (34), does not need an alarm clock. Every morning, he wakes up to the chirping of over 200-feathered beauties.

With this large collection of exotic as well as rare avian species, Mishra’s home is a bird lover’s paradise.

His love for birds began during his childhood days. Soon after completing his graduation in zoology in 1996, he decided to turn his home into an aviary. With three pairs of finches, a couple of lutino cockatiels and four budgerigars, Mishra, barely 17-year-old then, gave wings to his passion.

When people came to know about a pair of gouldian finch, a costlier variety of regular finch, which he had bought for Rs 5,000, they ridiculed him but he was hell bent on realising his dream of becoming an aviculturist.

“When baby finches came out of their shells for the first time, I was on cloud nine. But, three times in a row, none of the newborns survived. But I did not lose hope. I also started reading books on bird breeding and gradually, with observation and experience, I was able to make them survive,” said Mishra.

Thanks to his efforts, several rare species flew for the first time into the state, which initially ruffled a few feathers. “At first, people thought I had lost my mind by taking up a novel profession. But I feel proud today since the same people who used to sneer at me are now my clients,” said Mishra.

Although he traded a few birds, he kept some of them as part of his exclusive collection. Today, he houses over 200 birds at his aviary. Some of them include jenday conure, gray parrot, ringneck parakeet, scarlet macaw, Senegal parrot, patch less cockatiel, Molina’s conure, sun conure and several other colourful, exotic species.

While some birds are fruit or seed-eating species, others’ diet consists of both fruits and seeds.

“I have also lent some of the birds to Nandankanan zoo here, and other zoos at Raipur, Bilaspur and Ambikapur,” he said.

Mishra is also the proud owner of a pair of the African Violet Turaco, which he procured from Singapore for a lakh of rupees. Some of the imported birds wear rings on their feet on which the birth year and the pet storeowner’s details of these birds have been inscribed.

Many bird lovers also come up to him for DNA sexing (to identify the gender of the bird) or whenever their tweeting pets fall sick.

“DNA sexing is done either by testing their samples of blood or feathers. But one has to know from where the sample has to be drawn. After consultation, they send it to genetic labs in Hyderabad or South Florida through me. I also offer advice on taking care of injured or sick birds,” said Mishra.

On the debate of keeping birds as pets, he said people should be more aware about the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to know which species have been banned for domestication. He has around six helping hands — two for maintenance and four for building cages — at the aviary.

“Birds should be allowed enough space for movement and care must be taken of their food and hygiene,” Mishra said as he held a budgerigar close to his face.

“You should talk to them regularly and show them how much they mean to you. I am so happy that I could turn my hobby into my profession,” he said.