Fewer species spotted on Big Bird Day this year
NEW DELHI: The number of bird species recorded in Delhi-ncr on Big Bird Day — one of the largest bird counting event in India — has gone down from 268 in 2017 to 237 this year.
Even though there has been no study to find out the exact reason, birders in the city feel that the unusually warm winter could be one of the reasons that forced migratory birds to depart early this year. “This year’s unusually warm winter could be one of the reasons behind this decline in the number of species compared to last year. Big Bird Day was organised on February 18 and it seems many of the migratory species could have left. There could be other reasons too,” said Nikhil Devasar, founder of birding group Delhibird.
Hindustan Times had reported that while the average day temperature in January 2018 was the highest in 10 years, December 2017 was the second warmest December month since 2008 after December 2016. On February 22, the day temperature had shot up to 32 degrees Celsius, which was seven degrees above normal.
“The vanishing wetlands and other habitats are also some of the reasons which are taking a toll both on the number of species and individuals,” said Pankaj Gupta, a birder.
The first Big Bird Day was observed in February 2004 by Delhibird. In 2013, the event went national with over 160 teams comprising over 1,000 birders coming together to celebrate the first pan-india Big Bird Day. In 2017, six international teams, including those from Singapore and Dubai, participated.
This year, the sighting of some rare and uncommon birds in the city came as a delight to bird lovers. “At least three rare and uncommon birds have been spotted this time. The Oriental scops owl is a very rare bird and has been spotted for the first time in Delhi. It was spotted in the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. The brown boobok also known as the brown hawk owl was spotted at Surajpur in Greater Noida. The grey-headed lapwing was spotted in Yamuna Biodiversity Park after a gap of more than a decade,” said Devasar.
Even though the number of species has declined in DelhiNCR, nearly all biodiversity parks of Delhi registered an increase, experts said. “The species count has almost doubled in Tughlaqabad Biodiversity Park and the newly opened Tilpath Valley Biodiversity Park compared to 2017,” said Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist-in-charge of Yamuna Biodiversity Park.
Birders recorded the highest number of species at Dighal in Haryana, considered a paradise for bird lovers, followed by Najafgarh Jheel, Chandu Budhera and Sultanpur National Park.