India

The arrival of spring is usually marked by the trees flowering and the birds are hard at work. For some birds, it means acquiring breeding plumage and courting their mates while for others it means getting ready to make the long journey back to their breeding grounds.

While March may seem quiet after all the excitement of Great Backyard Bird Count, Campus Bird Count, and other birding events in February, there are a few events to keep bird watchers interested.

Birding Events:

The Coimbatore Bird Atlas started last month, to map the distribution and abundance of birds in Coimbatore. Field Survey will be done mainly by the birdwatchers of Coimbatore in February and June from 2020 to 2022. See here for more details.

The Green Works Trust in association with Maharashtra Forest Department is organizing its first-ever Karnala Bird Count at Karnala Bird Sanctuary, Raigad district, Maharashtra, on 22-23 March 2020.

The topics covered in these two days will be:

1. Leaf Warbler identification by Nikhil Bhopale
2. Nocturnal bird count
3. Chance to explore less trodden paths of Karnala
4. Hands-on session on eBird

For more details, please contact greenworkstrust2016@gmail.com or send a Whatsapp message to 9769458564/9819460330

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 8th, March 2020, the  Andaman Avian Club is organizing an event called “Women Birdwalk Special” for women of Nittyaa Yoga Centre. One of the aims of this birding session is to create awareness about wetlands.

The bird walk will be at Ograbranj Wetlands on 8 March and the meeting point is at the Airport Gate at 6.30 am. Please contact P. Divya Prasad, Vice President of Andaman Avian Club, at 94342 89378

Additional instructions:

1. Packed vegetarian breakfast  will be provided by the club (free) however, do carry your own water bottles
2. Please wear dull-colored or camouflaged clothing
3. Binoculars will be provided by the club but do carry one if you have
4. Participants will have to travel to the meeting point on their own
5. Please do carry a cap, hat, a sunscreen
6. The entire trip is around 3-4hrs and will try to finish it by 9 to 9.30

Another such program held during the Women’s Day is the ‘All Women’s Nature & Wildlife Photography Exhibition’ in Pune.

Please see the poster here for more details.

There is also a list of birding events (mostly walks) that are conducted on a regular schedule (typically weekly or monthly) by various birding groups across the country. Take a look to see if there is something happening near you!

Challenges

If you enjoy challenges, do take a look at some of the global challenges set for this new year.

For India’s challenges, we have the monthly challenge for March and the yearly challenge for India for 2020.

There is also the global eBirder of the Month challenge as well as the global Checklist-a-day Challenge to look forward to.

Are you organizing a birding event soon?

If so, please drop a line to skimmer@birdcount.org so that we can include it in our monthly “What’s On in Birding” updates.