Birders from Mangalore University were able to record 110 species of birds during the Campus Bird Counting (CBC), an initiative taken up under Great Backyard Bird Count of Bird Count India, during the three-day bird-counting exercise between February 16 and 19 at the university’s Mangalagangothri campus in Konaje near here.
While the initiative began in 2016, when 77 species of birds were recorded. The number rose to 95 last year. Though the number of species recorded this year is higher, several species recorded earlier were found to be missing, according to a release from the organisers. The increase in numbers indicates the possibility of the presence of more species on the campus — something that can be recorded with more continuous efforts.
CBC is a collaborative effort to document bird life on campuses across the country, to gather information about the diversity, distribution and frequency of bird species outside the protected areas. As many as 230 campuses across India registered for this year’s CBC, including 23 from Karnataka.
Mangalore University, spread over an area of 300 acres, is home to a variety of avian fauna. Birders from the university have been actively participating in the CBC for the past three years.
This year, the team was led by K. Vineeth Kumar, Jagdish Paithankar (both research scholars), and M.Sc students U. J. Bhagya and Donald Preetam Henry from the Department of Applied Zoology.
Students and research scholars from various postgraduate departments of the university, with a few staffers of the university as well as P.A. College of Engineering and Ambika Vidyalaya and Govinda Dasa College, along with a few independent birdwatchers from Mangaluru, participated in the initiative.
Some rare birds found during the survey include the Sri Lanka frogmouth, Savanna nightjar, common hoopoe, Black-headed ibis, Small minivet, Tickell’s blue flycatcher, Yellow-wattled lapwing, White-browed bulbul, Plum-headed parakeet, and Indian roller.
Migratory species recorded during the CBC include Indian Pitta, Brown shrike, Booted eagle, Ashy Drongo, Blyth’s reed Warbler, Green/Greenish Warbler, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Eurasian Blackbird, Gray wagtail, and Blyth’s Pipit.
