Ayu and Agey are familiar names among explorers of the 1,985 sq. km Namdapha, India’s easternmost tiger reserve bordering Myanmar. But for members of their Lisu or Yobin community, inhabiting pockets of the Miao subdivision in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district, the names of the two ‘birding’ brothers are also clear indicators of the order they were born into their family.
In the Lisu dialect, Ayu means ‘seventh, while Agey means ‘eighth. Apart from the sequence of their birth, their names reveal that they have at least six male siblings, with the eldest named Apu, followed by Adu, Akhi, Achi, Ati, and Apshi.
“I do not write ‘Ayu’, but members of my family, clan, and tribe call me by that name. Numbering our names is a tradition we generally adhere to,” said Yolisa Yobin of Gandhigram aka Shidi, about 120 km from Miao. An organiser of birding expeditions in Namdapha, he was among six birdwatchers who recorded the Lisu wren babbler as a new species in 2022.
