GUWAHATI, April 12: A bird monitoring activity launched during Magh Bihu last year will now document avian diversity in Assam across three seasons.
The Bird Count India (BCI), a frontline NGO, along with Assam Bird Monitoring Network has decided to scale up the “Bihu Bird Count” initiative to all the three Bihus (Magh, Bohag and Kati) – in winter, spring and autumn seasons respectively.
The move comes after two successful bird counts. During the Magh Bihu Bird Count from January 14 to 17 this year, 418 species of birds were recorded from the state with 81 of them being long distance migrants.
As many as 382 bird species were spotted in the Magh Bihu count last year.
Come Wednesday, the “Bohag Bihu Bird Count 2021” will offer another opportunity for birders to observe the avian diversity and make a count of them.
The bird count will be held between April 14 and April 17, 2021, across all districts of Assam.
“The Bihu Bird Count, which was launched last year to promote the association of the festival with nature, aims to spread knowledge and awareness on the importance of the birds around us,” the organisers said in a statement.
Bohag is also the season when the morning air is enriched with the sweet sounds of the Indian Cuckoo (Keteki) and Asian Koel (Kuli).
About this time of the year, several migratory bird species head home after spending a good part of the winter in Assam and its surrounding regions.
“The initiative emphasises on the use of eBird.org, a citizen science platform, for the birders to register their observations in a systematic manner,” it said.
“The Bihu Bird Count will follow simple steps of documentation. Anyone within Assam during the event days is eligible to be a participant,” the statement said.
Firstly, the participants will select the area in which they are interested to pursue bird watching. Once the area or location is decided by the participants, they will have to watch birds for at least 15 minutes in and around the selected area at any time of the day.
One can go birding as many times they want within the four days.
Secondly, the bird species identified during the event has to be uploaded in eBird.org by April 22, 2021.
“For people residing outside Assam and willing to participate in the event, there is an option of sharing their respective checklists with the account named ‘bihubird’ in eBird,” the statement said.
During the Magh Bihu Bird Count this year, the common myna was the most sighted species. The bird count also documented some rare birds such as Abbot’s warbler and white-tailed robin.
Besides, 19 species of threatened birds were recorded such as Greater Adjutant, Oriental Darter and Ferruginous Pochard.
Certain species endemic to the Brahmaputra Valley, such as the Marsh Babbler, Swamp Prinia and Black-breasted Parrotbill, were also observed during the count.
The other benefit about submitting these observations to eBird is that the data is available in the public domain where everyone is free to access it.
“The unique landscape of Assam has the potential for exploring several avenues of research in the field of ornithology and avian tourism. This exercise will lead to understanding the seasonal and temporal distribution of birds in Assam across different terrain as well as imbibe the sense of attachment towards nature within people,” the statement said.