Winter Bird Monitoring Program (2015-16)

HIGHLIGHTS

Nine teams comprising of 19 birders visited 43 locations, taking different directional routes, resulted in 179 species numbering 15,437. Few interesting birds observed are – RUDDY SHELDUCK, COMMON POCHARD, COMBDUCK, WESTERN REEF-HERON, BLUETHROAT, RUDDY-BREASTED CRAKE, TEMMINCK'S STINT, ALPINE SWIFT, YELLOW-LEGGED BUTTONQUAIL & EGYPTIAN VULTURE.

WINTER BIRD MONITORING PROGRAM (2015 -2016): Three months (Dec, Jan & Feb) consolidated result- 37 birders visIted 225 locations, recorded 251 species.

PARTICIPANTS: Aman Khan, Anagha S, Chandrashekar S, Chandru SG, Girija T, Guruprasad P, Harsha NR, Harshvardhana, Jestashree, Kashyap R, Madhusudhan, Michaelsen, Mukund, Naveen Jois, Kiran B, Pavan Ramachandra, Prashanth, Raghavendra H, Raghunath R, Sahana M, Sharath A, Sheshgiri BR, Shiv kumar, Shiva prakash A, Shylajesh R, Sneha Guptha, Suresh VP, Sudhanshu Hegde, Syed Ateeq, Syed Mudaseer, Tanuja DH, Tanya Shekar, Swetha Bharathi, Veerabhadra swamy, Vinay Nadig, Vijayalaxmi Rao, Yogendra.


INVITATION

Last season (2014-15), Winter Bird Monitoring Program was conducted during the four months period [Nov 2014 – Feb 2015]. Totally, 125 locations were monitored, generating 188 checklists. Bird watchers travelled to various sectors mentioned below and recorded 253 species (228 in 201-14). During the survey, the following birds were recorded for the first time - Tytler's Leaf-Warbler by AAPC & Srilatha, Bristled Grassbird by VLR, MS & SB, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo by VLR, MS & SB.

This time, it is proposed to collect the data over three months in all the routes planned, from first week of December 2014 till the end of February 2015. Reserve a week or two for third edition ofMysore City Bird Atlas.

I. How to go ahead with bird monitoring?

    • Minimum birding period is half an hour in one location.

    • It is not competition; observe the bird in the field for its proper identification, activity and we will fine tune our birding skills.

    • Intimate in advance the route planned, so that other interested birders can join the team or other team can take a different route. The intention is, each team shall cover maximum routes and avoid repetitions.

    • Please enter the data in “e-bird” website in your name as soon as you are back from day long birding trip. Post the link in facebook/mysorenature or the data filled form for data compilation.

    • Share your interest with your friends, especially students from life science and introduce them to field study.

    • 17th January 2016, Sunday: maximum number of teams will take different routes to ‘record’ maximum number of bird species in a single day. An experimental survey on 12/01/2014 yielded 134species by 11 teams.

All the best!

II. Locations and Route details: