Birders from Maharashtra topped at the countrywide Salim Ali Bird Count on November 15, organised by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) to commemorate the birth anniversary of the 'Birdman of India' and to encourage birdwatchers to record various birds, including the resident and migratory from different habitats across their cities. According to BNHS officials, several birders went out alone as well as in groups and observed birds, making a list of species observed and uploaded it on ebird website from where the data was collated.
"We received a very good response from birders and birding enthusiasts as 22 states covering 99 districts participated and 15,638 observations were recorded by over 280 people covering a total of 514 species of birds during the day, out of which 30 were from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Birds 2015. Maharashtra ranked first with 123 lists being submitted, followed by Kerala with 59 lists and Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with 40 lists each," said Dr Raju Kasambe, Important Bird Areas (IBA) programme manager, BNHS-India.
Kasambe added that important and endangered species, such as the Great Knot, were spotted by birders at Akshi beach, while Indian Skimmer was observed from Uran. The compiled report also stated that White-rumped Vulture was the only bird spotted from the 'Critically Endangered' category, while four birds from the 'Endangered' category that were spotted were Black-bellied Tern, Egyptian Vulture, Great Knot and Steppe Eagle — the latter two were recently put in the 'Endangered' category from the 'Vulnerable' and 'Least Concerned', respectively. The report stated that observations were collated from 549 lists as each individual was required to prepare different lists for different locations covered and, among various lists, 383 were unique since they were uploaded by individuals, whereas the rest had multiple contributors in each list.
"While we are happy with the response, we would like to make the event even bigger next year by trying to increase the number of participants. We will put in extra efforts in the states where we got lesser or no response as we need help of each and every birdwatcher based in the remotest locations of the country contributing his/her observations on citizen science forums like eBird, which will help in having good understanding about the temporal and spatial distribution of birds found in India," said Kasambe, adding that it will help give an idea of the impact of climate change and other factors on the birds in India.
The count will now be organised every year on the Sunday after September 12 to encourage birdwatching and spread awareness.
805 person-hours were utilised in birdwatching.
22 states covering 99 districts of India participated in the count.
284 birders ventured out in the early hours between 6am and 9am.
104 out of the 284 continued their birdwatching till noon.
73 birdwatchers participated in the count during the fag end of the day.
Maharashtra ranked first with a total of 123 lists being submitted.
