What's on in February
February is amongst the most happening months of the year for birds and birders. Winter migrants are still making their presence felt across the region with some passage movements beginning to take place to add some excitement into the mix. Our resident birds also begin to make preparations for the breeding season, and you may notice several birds would have already begun singing and nesting.
Birding Events:
The Great Backyard Bird Count
The biggest event of the year, the GBBC, takes place from 16-19 February. During this event, a large number of birders from across the world spend four days looking for birds and reporting their observations on eBird. In 2023, over 4,259 birders from India participated and uploaded over 53,750 checklists and reported 1,072 species. Click here to see the previous year’s results.
Participating in GBBC is very simple. All you have to do is go birding anywhere for 15 minutes or more, watch and count all the birds that can identify by sound or sight to the best of your ability and upload your checklists through eBird App.
The GBBC is also a fantastic opportunity to introduce the world of birding to those who haven’t experienced the wonders of our avifauna yet. Birders are encouraged to conduct public walks and hold events to spread the message. If you wish to do something in your region this year, please do register your event by filling this event registration form. Join the India-wide webinar on how to prepare for GBBC. During the webinar, the Bird Count India will share tips on how to participate in GBBC. Find details below:
When: Saturday, 3 February at 6.30 p.m. (IST)
Where: Zoom and Live on YouTube (https://bit.ly/GBBC_Live)
Language: English and Hindi
(We regret to inform you that the upcoming webinar has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. A rescheduled date and further details will be shared soon.) Update on 2nd Feb 2024 at 12:43 pm
Campus Bird Count
The Campus Bird Count runs in parallel with the GBBC. It is aimed at documenting the birdlife of campuses across India and raising awareness about birds amongst the campus’s residents at the same time. If you live, study, or work on education, institutional, research, corporate, or any other campus, do join in! It’s a good opportunity to record what birds are found on campus and to get others involved too.
Last year, 171 campuses across India participated in the count and uploaded a total of 5,814 unique checklists.
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.
The February 2024 eBirding Challenge for India can be seen here.
Take a look at the yearly challenge for India for 2024
There is also the global eBirder of the Month challenge and 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.