Kakarlapudi Seeta Rama Krishna Raju (KSR Krishna Raju), born March 11, 1948 is a renowned Ornithologist from India whose work is well known among all bird lovers across the world. Born  to Late Sri. Dr. K.V.V.Gopal Raju , He was the eldest among 6 brothers and a sister and hails from Alamanda, a village in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. He studied BSc in A.V.N College Visakhapatnam and later on completed his MBA from Andhra University.
Raised by a nature and animal loving family, Krishna Raju developed a deep rooted interest in all things in nature. His early encounters with animals and birds led him into studying and researching them on his own by reading various books. One day he found a bird with a ring attached to its foot trapped in one of his nets. This led him to track the bird down by the number and eventually led the young budding nature lover in contact with Bombay Natural History Society, BNHS.
At BNHS, Krishna was taken under the wing of the esteemed birdman of India, Bharat Ratna Dr. Salim Ali. Dr. Ali recognized a kindred bird lover in the young man and made him his assistant. This lead to a lifelong friendship and tutelage for Krishna Raju and was instrumental in him turning into the field of Ornithology.
Krishna Raju worked as a research assistant at Point Claimere and Bharatpur before being picked to lead Dr. Ali’s team during several expeditions in the Eastern Ghats of India surveys. His impressive researches in the avifauna of the region and unparalled knowledge of birds in the Eastern Ghats was soon noticed by the president of the Smithsonian Institute of Natural Sciences, Dr. Dillon Ripley and Mrs. Pamela Rasmussen who worked with Raju in India a few times on the same expedition’s.
On their invitation, Raju left to America and toured the country extensively. It was in America that he was recognized for his work in discovering a hitherto unknown sub- species of the bird Abbots Babbler, which was subsequently named malaconchilia abboti babbler Krishna rajuii in his honor. This was a singularly rare achievement in the field of ornithology and this species is displayed in Smithsonian museum. He was also credited with rediscovering a species of the Blewits Owl, which had not been seen for almost 60 years in the wild
He conducted the first ever ecological survey of parts of Eastern Ghats in India and authored the “Checklist of Birds in the Eastern Ghats”. He wrote more than 30 scientific papers on ecology, bird watching and the Eastern Ghats. He was founder secretary of Andhra Pradesh Natural History Society (APNHS).
He worked as Eco Tourism consultant to the Govt of Andhra Pradesh and conceived and developed the concept of APTDC’s leading money spinner Tyda natural resorts near Araku Valley. Krishna Raju passed away in 2002 and is survived by his wife and three daughters. He continues to live in the hearts of avid bird lovers across India.