The annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will take place from February 16 — 19. Photo: Gomantak Times
If you wish to rejoice India’s wealthy avian range, look no additional! With a worldwide participation of over one lakh birdwatchers, the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is again!
Last yr, not solely did India rank because the second-highest contributing nation worldwide, but in addition found extra fowl species than another nation!
This yr, the occasion will take place throughout 4 days, from February 16, 2024 to February 19, 2024 with greater than a thousand birdwatchers all through the nation coming along with the purpose of documenting as many birds as potential throughout the nation’s numerous places.
In 2023, India proudly secured the third position, globally, for the variety of reported species, intently following Colombia and Ecuador. Additionally, it claimed the second spot for the variety of uploaded fowl lists, trailing after the United States.
Among essentially the most steadily noticed birds in India had been the Himalayan Bulbul within the Himalayas, House Crow in each the north and the south, Red-Vented Bulbul within the jap and central areas, Feral Pigeon within the west, and Plume-Toed Swift within the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
GBBC not solely serves as a pleasant occasion for novice and seasoned birdwatchers, alike, but in addition contributes to citizen science, aiding in understanding the standing of avian populations in India.
As Sagarika Gupta, a passionate birdwatcher from Chennai, aptly expresses, “For me, the GBBC is a way to contribute to a larger good — something that’s fun, but with a purpose. However, looking back, I realise that it made me a better birder, over the years. It has helped appreciate the bird life in my immediate surroundings.”
She further adds, “I started noticing birds and bird calls throughout the day, a tailor bird somewhere, a myna or a flock of parakeets or a pair of treepies or a lone Shikra.”
“The post-noon soaring of Painted Storks and Indian Spot-Billed Ducks to flocks of Yellow Wagtails and Glossy Ibises moving to roost in the evening, to egrets feeding their fledglings to crows attacking koel, were observed from my balcony. I realised that one doesn’t need to be in a birding hotspot to observe bird habit and behaviour,” she shares.
Dibyendu Ash, a naturalist and bird guide from Sikkim, says, “For me, four days of GBBC is a wonderful exercise, where various people can participate and enjoy watching birds. In India, birdwatching is getting popular and events like GBBC and CBC offer opportunities to get more people connected to nature and birds.”
GBBC in India is coordinated by Bird Count India, an umbrella group of a lot of birding, nature and conservation organisations.
Participants are inspired to record all of the fowl species seen at a selected location over a interval of quarter-hour or extra, at any time through the 4 days, and add the record to the fowl recording platform eBird, which makes guidelines creation simpler. This may be repeated as typically as potential.
During GBBC, a number of native birdwatching walks and talks are deliberate throughout the nation for the general public to hitch in.
GBBC in India is coordinated by Bird Count India, an umbrella group of a lot of birding, nature and conservation organisations.
COLLEGE, OTHER CAMPUSES UNITE IN BIRDWATCHING
Along with GBBC, campuses throughout India additionally participate within the sister occasion ‘Campus Bird Count’, aimed toward monitoring fowl populations in academic and institutional campuses.
Outside protected areas, equivalent to nationwide parks and wildlife sanctuaries, these establishments have gotten more and more very important habitats for our wildlife.
Sarabjeet Kuar, a PhD Scholar on the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, shares “I will always cherish my first Campus Bird Count. The four days proved an unforgettable learning and shaped my path in the field of Ornithology.”
“Resolutely, I have never missed a single Campus Bird Count since 2017 for it was a stepping stone, and I realised how important it is to methodically carry out monitoring with a group of like-minded people and inspire others to look at it with an altered perception.”
The international GBBC is organised by Cornell University and the Audubon Society within the USA.
ABOUT BIRD COUNT INDIA
Bird Count India is a consortium of organisations and teams, working collectively to extend our collective information about fowl distributions and populations.
The partnership conducts periodic bird-related occasions and actions, provides assist and assets to birding teams to conduct their very own occasions, and supplies info on fowl monitoring.
For extra particulars:
WEBSITE: www.birdcount.in
EMAIL: [email protected]
