What’s on in September
September is an exciting month of the year and it usually signals the start of the “birding season” for many as the rains finally begin to retreat and a number of the migrants now start passing through.
Enroute Africa
Some of the birds that make their way through India at this time of the year are those which are on their way from breeding grounds further north to their wintering grounds in Africa. At this time, birds such as the Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin and Spotted Flycatcher make short stops in the North West parts of the country before continuing with their migration. European Rollers and European Bee-eaters also pass through at this time, but usually stay a bit longer and are generally more widespread.
Winter migrants
While passage migrants continue their journey on to foreign shores, several winter migrants are already arriving to stay for the coming months. Waders are being reported from across the country with several flocks now being seen as far south as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Leaf Warblers, too, are being reported from multiple locations while Garganeys have reached their southern wintering grounds.
Lesser Sand Plover © Sachin Main (view checklist)
Events
The annual Global Shorebird Counting Program is underway from 02 September 2016 till 06 September 2016 as one of the programs that builds up to the World Shorebird Day on 06 September.
International Vulture Awareness Day will be observed on Saturday, 03 September 2016.
And the current window for the Kerala Bird Atlas closes in mid September.
eBird Profile Page
eBird introduced the eBird Profile Page at the end of last month. The profile pages allow us to get to know the eBirder a little better while providing a visual tool to look birding coverage as well as a dashboard to view media uploads to the eBird and Macaulay Library.
Profile Pages are only visible to others who are part of the eBird community (logged in users). To access and set-up your Profile, visit this URL: http://ebird.org/ebird/profile
Monthly challenges
As always, do check out this month’s eBirding challenge. This September, the challenge is to upload at least six checklists each week. You should also have a look at the Global eBirder of the Challenge, which is to upload at least 15 lists with the flyover code.