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Significant Achievements
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- Participated in a bird-banding training at Great Gull Island, New York, U.S.A. under the guidance of Dr Hellen of American Museum of Natural History and Dr Malcolm C. Coulter, Co-Chair, IUCN/BirdLife International/Wetlands. International, Specialist Group on Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills from 17-20 August 2000. There I trapped, banded and measured Common Terns.
- Conducted bird surveys in the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President of India’s palace), New Delhi from November 2002 till October 2003. Based on my report, steps were taken by the authorities to make waterbodies within the Rashtrapati Bhavan to attract migratory birds during winter. During my visits to the Presidential Palcae, I met Hon. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam nine times and discussed about the birds of India and also about the birds of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has brought out a book on the birds of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
- Participated in a Black Stork survey (New Odyssey) along with Miroslav Bobek, Lubomir Peske and Khalil Baalbaki of Czech Republic mostly in western Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat from 5-18 December 2003. We were after two Black Storks (named Iristu and Altynai) which were fitted with satellite transmitters and reached India after their departure from Siberia in Russia around October/November 2003.
- Participated in the Gondwanaland Expedition as Zoologist that went on to visit 16 countries by road from 24 March to 28 June 2006. The expedition was organized by Mr. Akhil Bakshi of Bharatiya Yuva Sakti and my participation was financially sponsored/supported by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. The expedition visited Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa.
- Participated in an ‘international workshop -A Conservation Strategy for the White-bellied Heron’ held at Guwahati from 2-4 December, 2014. A total of 41 participants from India, Bhutan, Myanmar, China along with experts from UK and Germany worked hard for three days. The workshop was jointly organized by BNHS and ATREE. Initial presentations by experts from each country (including Dr. Maheswaran from India) highlighted the need for greater efforts in researching the basic biology, habits and distribution of the WBH as a basis for its conservation. This comprises a major Goal for range countries and committed non-governmental organizations.
- Participated in the second ‘international workshop -A Conservation Strategy for the White-bellied Heron’ held at Punakka, Bhutan from 1-4 December, 2015. A total of 28 participants from India, Bhutan, Myanmar, China along with experts from UK and Germany worked hard for three days. The workshop was jointly organized by Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan and Synchronicity Earth, UK. Initial presentations by experts from each country (including Dr. Maheswaran from India) highlighted the need for greater efforts in researching the basic biology, habits and distribution of the WBH as a basis for its conservation. This comprises a major Goal for range countries and committed non-governmental organizations.
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Significant Publications in the recent years (detailed publication list in the Researchgate link given below)
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(1) Maheswaran, G., Sharma, L.K., Mondal, H.S., and Mukherjee, T. (2021) White-bellied heron a species on the verge of extinction: Ensemble model reveals loss of habitats and resultant prolonged isolation driving the species to extinction. Ecological Informatics 64: 101383 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101383) [Impact Factor: 5.1]
(2) Maheswaran, G., Acharja, I.P., Sharma, L.K., Mondal, H.S., Mukherjee, T., Alam, I., and Majumder, A. (2021) Save the white-bellied heron from extinction. Science 373(6561): 1317. (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl9682) [Impact Factor: 56.9]
(3) Ghosh, A., Dalui, S., Mukherjee, T., Joshi, B.D., Singh, S.K., Maheswaran, G., Sharma, L.K., Chandra, K., Thakur, M. (2022) Serendipitous discovery of white-cheeked macaque (Macaca leucogenys) from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Animal Gene. 200124
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.angen.2022.200124
(4) Maheswaran, G., Alam, I., and Majumder, A. (2022) Conservation of avian diet specialization is complex and a challenging task for developing countries. Conservation Letters. 2022;15:e12851. http://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12851 [Impact Factor: 8.5]
(5) Mondal, H.S., and Maheswaran, G. (2022) Foraging Ecology of White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis) in the Fast-flowing Rivers of Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Waterbirds 44(4): 389-396. https://doi.org/10.1675/063.044.0401 [Impact Factor: 0.3]
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