Training on CBMP ,AWC and eBird

Dear Friends,

We are conducting a training session on Bird Watching  with the help of Kerala Forest Department under Green Partnership Programme.:

Date and time  :10am on Saturday, 3rd January 2015.

Venue:               Mangalavanam Sanctuary,behind Highcourt of Kerala.

Topics:              Wetlands Bird Monitoring and Identification:

                           Common Birds of Kerala- CBMP

                           Introduction  to eBird.

For participation, please mail us at  cochinnaturalhistorysociety@gmail.com or contact me .

Warm Regards Happy Birding,

Vishnu

9446437410

Eat Pokkali Rice to Conserve Waterbirds, Say Birders

Click Here to go to the Report

Eat pokkali rice to conserve water birds, say birders

K.S. SUDHI ,The Hindu

The Cochin Natural History Society, an NGO, has launched a campaign asking the bird enthusiasts to buy pokkali rice from the farmers to support the farming and thereby conserving wetlands, the habitat of wetland birds. Eat pokkali rice to save wetland bird habitats, exhort birders of Kochi.

The Cochin Natural History Society (CNHS), an NGO dedicated for conservation of birds, has launched a campaign asking the bird enthusiasts to buy pokkali rice from the farmers of Varapuzha area to support the farming and thereby conserving wetlands, the habitat of wetland birds.

Pokkali farming is facing crisis in the district with drastic reduction in the extent of farmland. The farming activity itself had become uneconomic forcing the farmers to abandon it, said Vishnupriyan Kartha, secretary of the society.

The CNHS is focusing its attention on Devaswom Padam in Varapuzha, which is one of the favourite wetland birding sites in the district. The presence of around 50 bird species draws birders and nature enthusiasts to this site. The destruction of wetlands will naturally lead to loss of habitat of avian fauna. Sustainable farming is the only way to protect the birds. Hence the campaign, Mr. Kartha said.

The bird species present in the wetland include Little Cormorant, Oriental Darter, Indian Pond Heron, Purple Heron, Grey Heron and Little Egret. Asian Openbill, Lesser Whistling Duck, White-breasted water hen, Purple Swamp hen, Bronze winged Jacana and Pacific Golden Plover are also found here.

Calling the attention of birders who have been carrying out “birding and photography at Kadamakudi and Devaswom Padam regularly,” a communication from the CNHS urged them to buy pokkali rice to revive the farming. A group of social activists are supporting the farmers by returning the profit from selling pokkali rice procured from them, he said.

Pokkali paddy farmed by the local farmers is converted into rice at a threshing unit and the rice is sold at Rs. 60 a kg. The profit is returned to the farmers as an incentive for engaging in pokkali farming, said Jesudas Varapuzha, one of the activists.

Last year, One quintal rice was thus sold and profit shared among the farmers. There was good demand for pokkali rice and the transportation of rice to the buyers was one hassle faced in its marketing, he said.

The society had been covering the wetlands since 2011 during the Asian water bird census. When the birders assemble here for the next census in January, the members will be encouraged to buy the rice from the farmers.

High Court upholds fragile land Act

Click Here To Read The Full Story

Kerala Bird Race 2014- A Report

Dear all,

It was yet another day for celebrating the joy of birding by birding enthusiasts.The eighth edition of Kerala Bird Race was held with gusto and enthusiasm  yesterday . The Bird Race is conducted in Kerala to commensurate with the birthday of Dr. S`alim Ali in three cities namely Kochi,Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram In the central region, around 100 participants in 22 teams from Ernakulam, Thrissur,Kottayam and Alleppey  participated  in the programme. The valedictory function was held at Airport Abad, Nedumbassery.

The Chief Guest was  Hon, Justice K. Sukumaran, former Justice of Kerala High court.He shared his many experiences in dealing with environmental issues and the Silent Valley struggle.It was a speech sprinkled with humor and wit.In the function participants shared the day`s joys and misses and even a team`s tryst with wild elephants.

Now coming to the main part, the main sightings  from central.region were  an Amur Falcon from Nedumbassey by Dr.Dilip K G , our President, Asian Fairy Bluebird and Velvet Fronted Nuthatch from KAU Campus by students of Forestry College, around 1500 Glossy Ibis from Kole  wetlands, and a Mountain Hawk Eagle from Idamalayar area by Ginu George,Jai P Jacob,Cinoby J Kanat and Arun, members of CNHS.

All participants were  encouraged to submit their observations to eBird platform.A presentation on Onam Bird Count Results and eBird introduction was also given.

This year there were many  new birding enthusiasts  participating r, including from Thiruvananthapurm,Idukki and Palakkad. The function ended with a Banquet, and participants were seen lingering long after, sharing their days memories with each other....

Vishnu

Sri M Suresh, Beat Forest Officer ,Idukki WLS being awarded Forest Medal by Chief Minister on Independance Day for meritorious service

Sanctuary at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit woos birders

Sanctuary at varsity woos birders

HIRAN UNNIKRISHNAN

Poorna bird sanctuary located on the campus of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady.– Photo: By Special Arrangement

Leaving the traditional birding sites, birders are now flocking the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady, thanks to its rich avian wealth.

Located far away from the city, the varsity campus is serene, green and home to a bird sanctuary named Poorna. As per the estimates, the park houses about 30 species of birds and plant varieties.

Varsity officials pointed out that the sanctuary highlighted the role of the campus as a shelter for local and migrating birds and in spreading awareness about the importance of birds in the environment. Some of the bird varieties often spotted here includes Night Heron, Purple heron, Back Bittern and Brown Hawk Owl. The location often serves as a stopover for many migratory birds as well.

“The significance of the park, established in December last year, is that it promises to radiate onto the surrounding urban settlement and spread the bird population to the countryside,” said M.C. Dileep Kumar, Vice Chancellor of the varsity. According to him, the system does not concern solely birds, but also addresses the elimination or reduction of threats linked to the survival of species and plants.

“The students and staff together play a key role in maintaining the system, which has been declared as a plastic-free zone,” the VC explained, adding that the varsity would make every step to maintain its habitat intact even while taking up the various development projects. Aiming to spread awareness, the varsity officials also plans to organise bird identification workshop for students in the coming months. “Students of different schools would be invited to participate in the contest, identify birds and check with experts about their guesses. This is needed for systematic and collective efforts to save biodiversity of Poorna,” said an official.

Dr.K.G. Dileep, Head of the Sociology department at the varsity and an avid birder, said sensitising people on campus to wildlife conservation is very important. “Speeding vehicles, fencing, construction and even cutting down a small tree may disturb the habitat. Therefore, keeping the people on campus aware about what may disturb the wild habitats is essential,” he pointed out.

Bird Count India-Bird Count happenings, October 2014

Dear All,

CNHS is a partner in Bird Count India Consortium and here is the update on the happenings:-


Bird Count India
Bird Count happenings, October 2014

Posted: 27 Oct 2014 11:12 AM PDT

‘Bird Count happenings‘ will be an irregular series of updates describing various snippets of news related to bird listing and monitoring in India. Our focus will be on activity from India in eBird, a public repository of bird information, but is not restricted to this. Although we view eBird as a valuable tool for accumulating information in Indian birds, it is not the only way in which Indian birdlife is being documented.

The Bird Count India partnership

This partnership exists to encourage and support bird listing and monitoring in India. Since its inception in early 2014, a large number of organizations and online groups have joined the partnership, supporting its goals in various ways. We welcome any group into the partnership in the spirit of working together to better understand our precious bird life.

One way in which the partnership encourages birders to document and share their bird lists is to run a monthly series of eBirding Challenges. Each challenge focusses on the effort spent in birding rather than number of species seen or the rarity of species. All birders who reach the monthly target are recognized on the website and one among these is selected at random to receive a small bird-related gift. The challenges have been run since April 2014, and you can see the monthly list of birders who met the target at this link.

Ongoing projects and new events

The Asian Waterbird Census, our oldest bird monitoring programme, picked up in 2014 with better participation and more site coverage than in recent years. We are told that a summary of the results from 2014 will be out soon.

Other events from early 2014 included the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC; 14-17 Feb), which saw a large jump in contributions thanks to the simultaneous occurrence of the Kerala Common Bird Monitoring Programme (CBMP), the Big Bird Day and the Bengaluru Bird Count. This resulted in India topping all countries in number of species reported, and coming third behind Canada and the USA in terms of the number lists contributed to the GBBC.

A follow-up event to the Kerala CBMP occurred on 12-15 Sept. This event, the Onam Bird Count, garnered even more participation than in February, and results should be out very soon. Other projects in Kerala include the Heronry Count (preliminary summary here) and the pelagic bird surveys — which are also taking off in other States, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa. Lists from pelagic surveys are being uploaded to 11×11 km ‘hotspot’ cells in eBird.

During the months of June-August, the Goa Bird Conservation Network ran the Monsoon Sunday Bird Challenge, where birders were encouraged to upload their weekend lists to eBird. The eBird platform is also being used to document and archive the findings from formal bird surveys, for example the 2014 Melagiri Bird Survey by the Kenneth Anderson Nature Society.

A significant advance in Indian birding has been the initiation of the Mysore City Bird Atlas. In this, the city of Mysore has been divided into grids, and systematically surveyed in February and in June 2014. This atlas endeavour builds on a long tradition of serious bird documentation by the Mysore Nature group, as shown by the monthly Mysore Birding Diary. Discussions about possible bird atlassing in other parts of the country are going on.

Upcoming events

Winter is almost upon us, and there is a packed schedule of events ahead. The India Bird Races will continue as usual in different parts of the country, spread over the winter months. The Asian Waterbird Census will happen in the month of January. And the Big Bird Day and Great Backyard Bird Count are scheduled for February. Please do check birdcount.in for announcements of these and other upcoming birding events.

eBird in India

Until late 2013, the majority of eBirding activity from India was by visiting birders from abroad. Since that time, more and more Indian birders have been using eBird to document their birding outings, and as a consequence, information on the occurrence and abundance of Indian birds is rapidly building up. On 1st January 2014, the number of records of birds from India stood at about 1,20,000. This number crossed half a million in early September, and now (end October) stands at just over 6,00,000 records. The number of India eBird users (ie, those who have uploaded at least one list from India) is 2,100, up from 540 on 1 Jan 2014. Since March, every month roughly 150-300 birders have been uploading one list or more from India.

Past records

Past information on birds in India is scarce, and mostly tucked away in notebooks and offline and online reports (but see the digitized records in the BirdSpot, South Asia Birds and India Biodiversity Portal databases). Thanks in part to the bulk upload feature in eBird, birders are uploading their older observations to the system. Since January 2014, a large number of lists (over 5,500 lists, totalling > 1,30,000 records) from the past (ie, from 2013 and earlier) have been uploaded. Many of these lists (over 1,000 lists, >30,000 records) are from Mike Prince, whose lists from India go as far back as 1995 and cover 22 States/UTs. Other major contributors of past lists include the Kerala Birder group, who have uploaded nearly 1,000 past lists (>23,000 records), including those from previous Kerala Forest Bird Surveys, as well as all Asian Waterbird Count data from Kerala. Shivaprakash Adavanne, Praveen J, and Fionna Prins have each uploaded over 200 of their previous lists, and a number of other birders have contributed smaller numbers of lists from the past.

Such historical information on Indian birds is extremely valuable; please do consider adding to the database by digging up your old lists and records and uploading them!

Gaps

Despite all the recent activity on eBird from India, we have a long way to go, both in absolute terms and in achieving adequate coverage across different parts of the country. For example, the number of lists for all of India is about equal to the number of lists from a single reasonably well-birded county like Miami-Dade county in the USA. Within India, coverage across different Districts is highly uneven. Until there is relatively high coverage across India, it will be difficult to generate accurate species maps, and compare seasonality or changes over years. This is our major challenge.

eBird assistance and features

Uploading lists to eBird can be done through the regular web interface, through smartphone apps, and through the bulk upload feature. We have worked with eBird to display English names that are familiar to Indian birders, but many of us still face some confusion about names, especially because of the large number of recent splits in species. These new names (and also a comprehensive list of Indian bird names) are described here. Several additional features of eBird will be highlighted in the coming months on the Bird Count India website.

Join the effort

We invite individual birders and birding/nature groups from anywhere in India to join the effort to collectively document India’s birds. There are various ways in which you can do so: as individual birders, we can take care to note all the birds we see on our birding trips and upload these lists to a site like eBird. As groups, we can design surveys or monitoring programmes in the areas we cover, to generate and aggregate information on bird distribution and abundance. Entire projects can be run through eBird, like many of those described above, and also MigrantWatch, which gives the option of reporting of migrant sightings to eBird or directly to their database.

If you are interested in listing, surveying or monitoring birds, please do contact us if you would like any advice or other help.

To get updates from Bird Count India automatically into your email inbox, you can sign up here. If you are on Facebook and would like to join our discussion of bird listing and monitoring in India, do join our Facebook group. We also have a Google group, which we hope to re-energize soon!