CNHS has joined Bird Count India which is a
consortium of organizations and groups working together to increase our
collective knowledge about bird distributions and populations. The consortium
has a set of specific goals.
Goals
We aim to document the
distribution and abundance of Indian birds, from the finest scale (eg, within a
city) to the largest (across the country).
Through the collection of
information on birds across seasons and years, we hope to enable a better
understanding of seasonal patterns of movement of birds, and to monitor changes
in distribution and abundance of birds over long periods.
We try and meet these
goals by conducting periodic bird events and activities; by offering support
and resources to birding groups conducting their own events; and by putting
together useful information on bird monitoring.
Activities
We coordinate the annual
Great Backyard Bird Count in India, which provides a yearly snapshot of the
distribution and abundance of birds around us. In addition, we coordinate
similar 4-day bird counts at other times of the year. Tentative dates for 2014
for these India Bird Counts are 13-16 June and 14-17 November.
We conduct a series of
monthly eBirding Challenges, to encourage birders to look for birds all through
the year and to share their sightings on a public platform.
Support
We offer support to groups
who wish to conduct their own birding events using the platform provided by
eBird. Previous examples of events we have supported include the Kerala Common
Bird Monitoring Program, the Big Bird Day, and the Bangalore Bird Count. If
your group is interested in conducting a bird listing or counting event, please
get in touch!
We offer advice and
support to location/regional groups who may wish to conduct more detailed
projects on the distribution and abundance of their birds, monitored over time.
Depending on your requirements, we can help with designing the project (based
on your needs), with suggesting data collection formats and storage, and with
the analysis and display of results. An example of a project we have supported
in this way is the Mysore City Bird Atlas.
Information
We are working towards
putting together a comprehensive set of resources
for anyone interested in
bird monitoring. This will include a description of the various kinds of
monitoring projects that could be done, some suggestions for how to decide
between them, and step-by-step guides for how to carry out a monitoring
project.
The
eBird platform
In general, we encourage
individual birders to use eBird to document their sightings. It often makes
sense for groups running events and projects to similarly use eBird. However,
for a few projects eBird may not be the best tool to use for bird surveys and
monitoring. In such cases, we are happy to advise on the design and
construction of a more customized system for data collection.
For more details here are the links:-May 2014 eBirding Challenge
Bird Count India
April eBirders of the Month
