Artist, writer and wildlife photographer, M. Krishnan was born in 1912. His camera, nicknamed "Super Ponderosa", through which Krishnan took staggeringly good pictures, were represented in a 1985 collection called Nights and Days.

An accomplished writer, Krishnan, published with ease in English and Tamil. He had a fortnightly column in The Statesman called "Country Notebook". Krishnan was also a renowned environmentalist. Although two posthumous books that feature his photographs and writing have been published—Nature’s Spokesman edited by Ramachandra Guha and Eye of the Jungle edited by Ashish and Shanthi Chandola and T. N. A. Perumal—Of Birds and Birdsong is the first collection of Krishnan’s writings that focuses exclusively on birds. Krishnan was awarded the Padma Shri in 1969. The artist passed away in 1996.