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Pune birders record 234 species in Great Backyard Bird Count
Birders in the city participated in the Bird Count India’s Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) initiative and uploaded 6,020 checklists and spotted 234 species between February 17 and 20
Birders in the city participated in the Bird Count India’s Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) initiative and uploaded 6,020 checklists and spotted 234 species between February 17 and 20. Salem district in Tamil Nadu secured the first position by uploading over 10,000 checklists and recording 179 species, while Pune stood second.
Fergusson College received recognition for most sightings in the institute category.
The initiative is a national forum that engages the community in creating a log (through audio-visual and photography) for bird species found across India. For a decade, the forum is organising this initiative, in which people from all over the country participate and note down the bird sighting around them.
This year, GBBC received 4,259 applications from participants from all over the country and 1,072 species were recorded with 53,750 checklists.
In this category, Maharashtra uploaded 7,622 checklists which was more by 4,861 as compared to last year. There were overall 239 participants who recorded 6,028 bird species. Similarly, 360 bird species were recorded in the state by 632 participants.
As per the report, Eurasian Collared Dove was one of the top five bird species mainly sighted in the western part of the country, including Maharashtra, and other species included Common Myna, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Red-vented Bulbul, etc
Anish Pardeshi, a nature lover and also a founder member of this initiative, said, “This initiative not only helps increase interest among people, especially college students, but also helps to maintain and enhance the People’s Biodiversity Registry (PBR).”
The Campus Bird Count runs alongside GBBC in India, to record the birdlife on multiple campuses across India and to promote birdwatching within institutions. Campuses include educational and training institutions, government institutions, research stations, corporate campuses, and so on. This year, a total of 171 campuses across India participated in the Campus Bird Count, uploading a total of 5,814 unique checklists.
In this, Fergusson College uploaded 1,450 unique checklists. Moreover, it was the only non-environmental studies institute that achieved the top ranking in the country. The college has recorded 88 species of all together. This includes species like Western Crowned Warbler, Green Warbler, Indian Cormorant (Indian Shag), Grey Francolin, and others.
Aviahkar Munje, faculty at Fergusson College’s biotechnology department, who is also the coordinator for the initiative, said, “At least 140 students from 10 different departments participated in the event. We started training in January and identified different sighting locations around the campus and the hill. It was a great experience to see the students enthusiastically involved in birdwatching activities. We also noted 88 species in and around the campus. This activity helped students to understand the biodiversity of our campus.”
“This event introduced me to the avian diversity in my surroundings. It also helped in understanding the variation in bird activity throughout the day at different locations,” said Chinmay Bhoyar, a second-year undergraduate zoology student at Fergusson College and a participant.