Birders spot 319 species in HP
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh is home to as many as 319 species of birds, the great backyard bird count has revealed. During the survey, birders counted as many as 16,000 birds in eight different districts.
Great backyard bird count is an annual event, which runs for four days every February, and engages bird watchers from the general public in counting birds. As many as 50 birders in different parts of the state participated in the detailed bird count. Principal Chief Conservator Wildlife S.K Sharma said.
“Exact habitation of birds will only come to the fore once the detailed report is analysed,” said Sharma, who spearheaded the count. This is for the first time that the forest department participated in the count.
“The participation was carried out as a voluntary exercise and staffs of the wildlife wing along with a few volunteers were indentified to contribute the bird lists,” said Sharma.
THE PROCESS
Great Backyard Bird Count annual event is open for all. The process involves birding for at least 15 minutes and listing, counting all species.
The list is then uploaded to eBird (wwa.ebird.org), an internet-based platform for recording and maintaining bird sighting data based at the Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology.
The annual snapshots of the population of birds obtained during GBBC helps scientists in answering a number of questions such as how are birds distributed across the country and how are they affected by habitat changes and weather conditions.