What's on in March
It’s that time of the year again! Resident birds have begun singing and courting for mates while winter migrants everywhere are looking to head back to their breeding grounds. Many of the birds wintering in South India will now be on passage across the northern parts of the country – announcing an exciting time for birders up north who now get a chance to see some passage migrants alongside winter migrants and residents! This frequency graph shows how Sulphur-bellied Warblers appear in Delhi and Haryana largely in March and April as they move north of their wintering grounds in central India.
Waterfowl across the southern states also reduce in numbers as they make their way up north. Some, such as the Northern Pintail in Kerala, move out steadily through the month of March with only a few stragglers left behind in April.
Meanwhile, Bar-headed Geese head out a lot earlier: in Karnataka, data shows that none remain by the middle of the month. This month’s eBirding challenge encourages birders to go out and revisit sites they visited in the winter to look out for such changes and migration patterns around them. Of course, you can also take part in the global eBirder of the Month Challenge.
The Line Graph tool is a great way to visualize species occurrence and seasonal patterns in any region and location.
The GBBC and CBC were great successes in February 2016, with a large amount of activity from across the country in terms of lists uploaded as well as species seen, as well as many newcomers taking part. It’s time to carry that momentum into March and do a lot more birding this month to help contribute information to understand migration patterns of our birds better. Also, do keep a look out for sparrows as part of World Sparrow Day on March 20th.