A year ago, India had submitted 13,276 checklists, simply behind Canada, which had submitted 14,008 and the United States, which had submitted 1,08,921 agendas. The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), the world’s biggest coordinated birding exercise, involving the two ornithologists and amateurs alike is back for its 21st edition later this week.
Started in 1998, with members from in excess of 150 nations, the GBBC is a worldwide occasion where birders of all skill levels help estimate to winged animal plenitude and circulation. Members count the winged animals they see for no less than 15 minutes on at least one days of the tally, they at that point enter their agendas at the eBird website. The information helps a snapshot of bird populations that enables scientists to detect population changes over time.
“The motivation behind the GBBC is two-fold. One is to get a huge segment of individuals interested by and looking a birds and, another is that through the sightings contributed by birdwatchers, to generate an annual snapshot of the status of India’s birds so that they can be monitored year on year,” says Suhel Quader, ornithologist with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Bangalore.
A year ago about two lakh checklists – a list of birds observed by a birder at some random time – were submitted from over the world. These checklists had reported a total of 28 lakh individual birds, representing 6,459 species. This is more than half of all the bird species in the world.
India had submitted 13,276 checklists, simply behind Canada, which had submitted 14,008 and the United States, which had submitted 1,08,921. India was additionally among the countries to report the most number of species.
As Quader includes, “I believe that birds being so prominent in our lives, our stories, and our culture, people are normally drawn towards birds. What’s more, lately there has been a surge of interest in birds and wildlife in general. Likewise, the possibility that by contributing my perceptions I can help generate information to better understand and conserve birds is also a motivating factor.”
As a major aspect of the GBBC, a nationwide campus bird count is also being organized, for which more than 100 institutions across the country have signed up already. Sakshi Rana, a doctoral understudy at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), who will partake in the grounds check at her establishment’s Dehra Dun grounds, “I’m an intermittent birder and this will be the second time I will take an interest in this occasion. I believe it’s an extraordinary method to draw in individuals and in the meantime, the activity offers great information too.” She includes, “More than 40 individuals will participate in our grounds and we have likewise sorted out birding sessions for kids from Dehra Dun will’s identity visiting the grounds amid the GBBC.”
The GBBC has been coordinated in India by Bird count India since 2013. Bird count India is an umbrella gathering of an expansive number of birding, nature and conservation organizations.
The GBBC will keep running from February 15 till February 18 and the expectations are to all the more likely a year ago’s interest numbers from India.
Last year, around 1,500 birders secured 271 districts crosswise over 29 states and association domains in India. As Quader says, “I think it is critical that science and research not be thought of as the restrictive area of experts. Citizen science projects such as this can act as catalysts for people to engage with science, and its methods and outcomes.”
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