215 species spotted in MMR during annual birding event

Birders said what was particularly of concern was the lower number of most bird species being sighted and reported

Mumbai: Bird enthusiasts spotted as many as 271 species on Sunday in Mumbai, Thane, and other parts of Maharashtra at the 21st annual bird-watching exercise, Wings, formerly known as the Mumbai BirdRace. Of these, 215 were spotted in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) alone, a slight decrease from the previous year’s count of 237.

The purple sunbird was one of the species spotted. (Kunal Munsiff)

The slight decrease is not much of a cause for concern, said Sunjoy Monga, naturalist, bird expert and one of the key coordinators of the event. The count in previous years was 250 (2022), 189 (2021), 192 (2020), and 234 (2019).

“What is particularly of concern is the lower number of most bird species being sighted and reported,” said Monga. “This includes both the resident and migratory species. Overall, very low sightings were reported of larks, woodpeckers, game birds (francolins, pheasant, quails), and many winter migrants.”

In fact, the MMR region has seen a largely low bird activity since December 2024, with endless haze enveloping much of the expanse for weeks, added Monga. “The rampant pace of developmental projects, from road construction and expansion to re-development and various infrastructure projects, as well as the relentless ruin of our wetlands, grasslands and open land habitats, has seriously affected bird diversity and numbers across varied zones,” he said.

Alarmingly, this spectre of habitats being disturbed, leading to low bird numbers, was reported from most districts of the state, including Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha, Baramati, Yavatmal, Mahabaleshwar, Raigad and Pune.

Some of the rare sightings that delighted the 300 birders who split into 69 teams included a species of white-fronted goose, most likely the greater white-fronted goose, a regional and peninsular Indian rarity spotted at a wetland site near Pune.

Others were the imperial eagle, the bar-headed goose, the knob-billed duck, the common pochard, the brown crake, the pied avocet, the bar-tailed godwit, the white stork, the black eagle and the Indian blue robin.

The annual birding event is a part of the global Wings – Birds of India exercise, which expanded from its Mumbai base that started in 2005. Birders recorded their findings on the ebird platform. The platform also ran its own birding exercise from February 14-17, called the Great Backyard Bird Count, where 417 species were spotted in Maharashtra. Of these, 101 species were spotted at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay campus alone.

One of the participants of Wings, Kunal Munsiff, who took his two daughters along, said, “Beautification has caused the destruction of natural habitats, even in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Powai Lake, including concrete roads which attract people but deter wildlife.”