This Magh Bihu turned a birdwatchers’ paradise as they spotted nearly half of Assam’s bird species.

Around 382 bird species were recorded out of 691 present in Assam in the first Bihu Bird Count, a bird-monitoring event organised in collaboration with Bird Count India, to document the state’s bird diversity by associating it with one of its biggest festivals — Bihu — from January 11 to 13. Altogether 46 birders covered 14 districts during the event.

“The main motive for organising this event was to intertwine the cultural and aesthetical value of the festival with nature and thus spread knowledge and awareness about the beauty and importance of birds. The aim was to encourage people to go birding anywhere, recording and sharing observations and uploading their checklists on the eBird website. The enthusiasm shown makes it a great platform to introduce people to birds and birdwatching,” said Jaydev Mandal, Gauhati University research associate and local organiser of the event.

“We have many potential areas and people who care for nature. This was an opportunity to unite them and give others a chance to fall in love with the beauty of nature as well,” he added.

The highest number of checklists were uploaded from Kamrup district (132) followed by Sonitpur and Tinsukia with 25 and 20 respectively. On the other hand, the highest number of species were reported from Baksa district (226) followed by Tinsukia and Sonitpur with 209 and 199 species respectively.

There are approximately 691 bird species known to occur in Assam, of which 382 were reported during the Bihu Bird Count 2020. The most frequently reported species are spotted dove, black kite, cattle egret, red-vented bulbul and common myna. “We would like to acknowledge all our organisers, coordinators and contributors who carried out bird walks and talks individually, on campuses and elsewhere in the state. The Bihu Bird Count will return next year, with the hope of having more birders and enthusiasts,” Mandal said.

Bird Count India (BCI), an NGO, has been instrumental in hosting several bird counts and documentation across India for the past few years by encouraging field tasks and the use of eBird.

The event emphasised use of eBird, a citizen science platform for birdwatchers managed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to upload checklists and contribute to ornithology.

Firstly, the participants had to select the area in which they were interested to pursue bird-watching. Once the area or location was decided by the participants, they had to register in the link available on the Bird Count India portal, providing all the

necessary details. Every participant had to watch birds for at least 15 minutes in and around the selected area. Once the participants identified the bird species, they had to upload as many counts they get in their lists on eBird (ebird.org/india) by January 20. All the instructions regarding the bird count were provided on the website and accessible by anybody interested in identifying and counting the number of birds around them.