Annual winter bird survey: 150 birders record sightings across Capital

Birders said all sightings made from the count this year will be compiled over the coming week, and the results are expected in three-four days.

With binoculars around their necks and cameras in hand, several birders set out across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Sunday morning to record the number of winter bird species in the city as part of the annual ‘Delhi Winter Bird Count’.

Over 150 birders in 20 teams went to birding hot spots such as Sultanpur, Mangar Bani, Bhondsi, Sanjay Van and the Yamuna floodplains, to record rare sightings, including that of greylag geese. (Representational image/HT Archive)

Over 150 birders in 20 teams went to birding hot spots such as Sultanpur, Mangar Bani, Bhondsi, Sanjay Van and the Yamuna floodplains, to record rare sightings, including those of the Eurasian griffon vulture, great bittern, Marshall’s iora and the white-bellied drongo.

Birders said all sightings made from the count this year will be compiled over the coming week, and the results are expected in three-four days.

Birder Kanwar B Singh, who led one of the teams to Bhondsi and the Najafgarh jheel, said the region from Chandu-Budhera wetlands up to neighbouring Najafgarh canal is an important birding habitat. “The key sightings included greylag goose, northern pintail, common pochard, northern shoveler, gadwall and Eurasian coot... among the rare sightings was a great bittern, a bird not commonly found in the region. Among the raptors, the greater spotted eagle, imperial eagle, osprey, hen harrier, marsh harrier and the booted eagle are interesting sightings,” said Singh, adding that teams set out across the Yamuna floodplains from Wazirabad to Okhla; wetlands in Noida and Greater Noida like Surajpur and Dhanauri; the Aravalli belt of Mangar and Bhondsi; parks like Sanjay Van and the Sultanpur sanctuary; and wetlands in Jhajjar.

Pankaj Gupta, another birder who took part in the count, said all the sightings are recorded on the e-Bird platform. “If we doubt a relatively rare sighting, we try to submit multiple shots so that birders can discuss among themselves and identify the bird.” he said.

Jaswinder Waraich, who headed out to the Sultanpur national park and its outskirts, said most migratory birds have arrived in fairly decent numbers so far this year. “The great crested grebe, hen harrier, imperial eagle and water pipit were some of the rarer sightings,” he said.