India Bird Races 2018 – 19 Kerala – Kochi
on 30th December 2018
to enjoy birds … and learn from their ways
It is time for another rendezvous with birds of and around urban India!
The 12th Kerala Bird Race will be held in Kochi on Sunday, 30th December 2018.
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), along with Kerala’s enthusiastic birding community (Cochin Natural History Society,Centre For Wildlife Studies, Kerala Agricutural University, Kole Birders and many others), are organizing this unique programme in and around the city. The all-India coordinator for the India BirdRaces is The Yuhina Canopy, while UWM is the Facilitating Partner.
In an interesting development this year, we have eBird India as well as Bird Count India as the partners to share knowledge and help promote a love and appreciation for observing birds in an organized manner.
Also, this year, participants and/or teams have the option of doing a half day bird-watch up to about 1 pm or lunch break, and then come refreshed for the evening get-together.
In an increasingly urbanizing world, with more and more people residing in urban areas, these human-influenced landscapes of town and city and their immediately impacted surroundings have become another habitat. Birds are often the foremost attraction for anyone interested in exploring the natural world.
The India BirdRaces have been conceptualized to help look at the avifauna (bird life) 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 of birding enthusiasts spend a day birding in and around a city, up to 50 km or so around the urban perimeters.
This is followed by an exciting, interactive evening get-together where all participants, from children to rank beginners get an opportunity to interact with some of the finest and most experienced birders in that city, including special invitees. There is a Bird-of-the-Day team prize. . With nearly 3000 people collectively partaking across more than a dozen Indian cities between December and early-March, the India BirdRaces are possibly the greatest birding event.
In recent years, the India BirdRaces have become a Non-Competitive event, with no winning teams based on tallies, but yet the event has been retained as a Race to try spot as many birds and explore every site in and around a city. Invaluable data has been gathered and which 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 people with interest in Nature are encouraged to participate.
There will be a briefing Session at 5pm on 28th December 2018 for the event at Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary for the participants.
A related Post is here on Kole Birders Community Page also
For participation please contact:-
Vishnupriyan Kartha. K
9446437410
