Kerala Bird Race 2016

India Bird Races 2016 – 17

to enjoy birds … and learn from their ways

Here’s another rendezvous with the birds of Kerala.

The 10^th Kerala Bird Race will be held on Sunday, 18^th December 2016.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) and The Yuhina Canopy, with UWM as Facilitating Partner, along with Keralabirder, Cochin Natural History Society , Malabar Natural History Society ,  Nature Education Society Thrissur and WWF Thiruvananthapuram,   are organizing this unique programme in and around three urban areas of Kerala – Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

In an increasingly urbanizing world, with more and more people residing in urban areas, these human-influenced landscapes have become another habitat. Birds are often the foremost attraction for anyone interested in exploring the natural world. The India Bird Races have been conceptualized to help look at the avifauna (birdlife) of these urban areas and their surrounding wealth of habitats and serve to popularize bird-watching and help lead to a better understanding of other aspects of our biodiversity and environment.

Simple, enjoyable and interactive, these dawn to dusk events allow teams ( 3 to 4 members each) of birding enthusiasts spend a day birding in and around a city, up to 50 km or so around the urban perimeters. The teams record the birds seen and heard on to the eBird platform http://ebird.org/content/india/   which is a global database of bird sighting by Cornell University   This is followed by  an exciting, interactive evening get-together where all participants, from children to rank beginners get an opportunity to discuss their birding experiences of the day interact with some of the finest and most experienced birders in that city, including special invitees. With nearly 3000 people collectively partaking across more than a dozen Indian cities between November and early-March, the India BirdRaces are possibly the greatest birding event.

In recent years, the India Races have become a Non-Competitive event, but yet a race to try spotting as many birds and explores every site in and around a city. Invaluable data has been gathered and it reflects all that is good and bad about how our urban areas are impacting the natural scheme of things.

Despite its rules, there is a fun element to this exercise, as also the team spirit and participation that comes into focus here. A day well spent for the cause of birds and urban environment!

All birding and nature enthusiasts are invited to join the Bird Race on 18^th Dec. 2016. For participation please contact:-

Kochi-                                Vishnupriyan Kartha.K - 9446437410(WhatsApp)

Kozhikode-                        Sathayan Meppayur –   9447204182

Thiruvananthapuram-      Sivakumar A K-              9447386978  

Ernakulam Bird Atlas- In Field Pictures

CNHS Press Reports

Ernakulam Bird Atlas Report in The Hindu

Click Here to Read

Ernakulam Bird Atlas- Meeting- Pictures

The pictures of the Ernakulam Bird Atlas Meeting held on 3rd July 2016,Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary

Ernakulam Bird Atlas-Invitation

Dear friends,

Greetings from CNHS,

As you know, we are doing the Ernakulam Bird Atlas project from  July onwards.Here is the schedule:-

Bird Atlas surveys shall be done twice a year.

• July 16th – September 13th [60 days, 9 weekends]
• January 16th – March 15th  [60 days, 9 weekends]

We have a total of more than 200 Sub Cells to cover by doing birding for a period of one hour in each sub cell. We will do this exercise twice as per the schedule above...This is a prestigious project for all of us bird lovers.We need the might of all the  birdwatchers and bird photographers in Kerala to complete this. Of course there is some protocols and methods to be followed to do this.

So we are holding a preliminary meeting of all birders at 10.30 am 3rd July 2016 at the Mangalavanam Sanctuary for discussing the way to achieve our goal.

We would request you to participate in the meeting and join our hands in this endevour...

Here are the links to some more details on the Kerala Bird Atlas project:-

http://www.birdcount.in/events/kerala-bird-atlas/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1589790677962448/

For more details Please contact : Premchand Reghuvaran  premchandalpy@yahoo.co.in

Warm Regards,

Vishnu

CNHS

Kochi Wetland Birdcount 2016

Dear All,

CNHS is conducting the bird count of major wetlands in Kochi as part of Asian Waterfowl Census(AWC) on 31st January 2016

The major wetlands covered simultaneously are:-


Kadamakkudy and Devaswompadam (Varapuzha area)


Kandakkadavu, Kalthara and Kuthirakkoor Kari Wetlands (Palluruthy/ Thoppumpady area)

All  birdwatchers are invited to participate:-