India, April 18 -- "In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence," the Irish writer Robert Lynd once said.

That's certainly how Aasheesh Pittie sees it. "For me, birdwatching is all about being in the moment, sitting still and allowing nature to come to me," says the 64-year-old from Hyderabad.

Pittie - an author, archivist, and one of the country's best-known birders - recently won the prestigious HH Bloomer award, presented by the Linnean Society of London, for his contributions as an amateur naturalist.

In his case, the award celebrates a lifetime dedicated to expanding our knowledge of birds and the history of South Asian ornithology. Among other things, Pittie, a businessman by day, has served as founding...