Bird survey to begin in Kannur on July 16

July 12, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:43 am IST - KANNUR:

Nearly 25 bird watchers and nature-enthusiasts have volunteered to participate in a comprehensive bird survey programme in the district as part of the ambitious Kerala Bird Atlas Project (KBAP) being launched to collect data and identify bird habitats.

The KBAP works have so far been done in Alappuzha and Thrissur districts.

Two phases

The survey works will be done in two phases, wet season and dry season.

The wet season survey in Kannur will begin on July 16. It is for the first time that such a survey is being conducted in this district.

A trial conducted by 54 ‘sub-cells’ of the total 234 identified for the bird survey in the district has given the volunteers a hands-on feeling, according to organisers. During the trial 80 per cent coverage was achieved.

Ornithologist C. Sashikumar, who is among the organisers of the survey from July 16 to September 13, told The Hindu that a meeting of the volunteers and officials of the Forest Department held here on July 10 decided to make the survey a big success. In wet season, the survey would be done in 234 sub-cells, while the remaining 32 sub-cells are in the Forest area which would be covered during the dry season. The volunteers have been provided with Excel spreadsheet with details of the sub-cells to be surveyed. The sub-cells to be surveyed are divided into nearly 25 clusters to be ‘owned’ by one bird watcher or a group of bird watchers.

The volunteers have also been advised to use kml file in Google Earth of their computer or in Locus Free Maps or Google Maps on their smartphones. An active WhatsApp group named Kannur Bird Atlas has also been started.

Mr. Sashikumar said that the survey would also cover habitat details including waterbodies, invasive species and ficus trees. Apart from the volunteers, children and other local individuals interested in the initiative would also be involved in local level surveys, he added.

Part of Kerala Bird Atlas Project, the survey will also cover habitat details including waterbodies

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