I have joined NCF in January, 2017 as a PhD student. I am interested in animal behavior. I had been a part of NCF high altitude team during my master’s dissertation and had undertaken a behavioral ecology project investigating patterns of prey-predator and predator-predator interactions over space and time.

For my doctoral research, I will be looking into the duet of a non-passerine large waterbird species, Sarus Crane. Birds with its diverse range of vocal communication, including calls, songs, duets and choruses, have inspired musicians, artists and a wide range of researchers. Among the diverse vocal behaviours in birds, I got attracted towards the duetting behaviour of certain passerine and non-passerine birds. Duet is a coordinated singing event between two partners. Saying that one can think of many questions, like: why do the partners decide to sing together instead of singing alone? What is the function of duet singing? How do the partners achieve coordination? Does the duet form vary with pairs, habitat or landscape?  There are so many questions, and some of which have been addressed for passerine song birds, but non-passerine duetters such as cranes, have received little attention. In a human modified habitat,  duet modification in relation to anthropogenic disturbances may have repercussions for different life history strategies of cranes. Therefore, I will be looking into forms and functions of duet of Sarus Crane in cropland-wetland mosaics of North India.
Suhridham's PhD is supported by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.