He doesn’t need the internet. His messages fly on the wind. Meet Pannalal Mahto, the Birdman of Jharkhand, who converses with 45+ bird species and can identify over 100 birds by their calls—decoding their alarms, joys, and fears.
A farmer from Saraiya Kundru, Ramgarh, his journey began at just 8 years old, mimicking bird calls out of curiosity. Decades later, every chirp, flutter, and song is a story he understands.
His gift goes beyond mimicry. “I can tell what they want just by looking into their eyes,” he says. Dressed in green so they see him as part of the canopy, he blends into their world until they accept him as one of their own.
His superpower? Reading moods from chirps and wings. A sudden silence means danger. A flutter shows delight. To him, birds are not just seen—they are heard, felt, and understood.
He is also a one-man avian ambulance. “If a daily visitor is absent, I know something is wrong.” He nurses injured birds with care—feeding, healing, and releasing them back into the wild.
When sparrows began to vanish, Pannalal installed 500+ artificial nests across his village. Today, Saraiya Kundru is a living sparrow sanctuary, buzzing with life again.
From a farmer’s modest income, he spends generously on bird conservation. Each day begins with inspecting nests, then walking into forests to “talk” to birds.
His legacy stretches into classrooms. At schools and colleges, he mesmerises children by summoning peacocks, koels, or crows with a single call, teaching them to see birds as friends, not strangers.
Awards have found him, but he says his true reward is this: “The birds fearlessly sit on my palm. When they fly to my call, that is the most beautiful part of my work.”