‘Amity campus in Aravalli hills records 71 species of birds’

Number recorded during a campus bird count conducted this past month as part of global efforts by Great Backyard Bird Count

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As many as 71 species of birds have been recorded at Amity University in Aravalli hills during a Campus Bird Count (CBC) conducted this past month as part of a global effort by Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC).

As many as 230 campuses across India, including 11 from the National Capital Region (NCR), registered for this year’s CBC.

The CBC, under GBBC, is a citizen science project to document bird life on campuses across the world and gather information about diversity, distribution, frequency and migratory patterns of bird species outside notified or protected areas.

Kushagra Rajendra, convener of the CBC and Head of Department, Amity School of Earth and Environmental Science, said birders from the university have been actively participating in the initiative for the past two years.

Native species like munia and egret were among the 113 birds species spotted on campus during a year-long independent survey by the students.

 

The initiative began in 2017, when 51 species of birds were recorded. Though the number has risen to 71 this year, several species recorded last year were missing.

The first day of CBC marked the presence of Major General (retired) P. K. Sharma, a prolific birder, with an interactive session on ‘Colourful World of Birds’.

Dr. Rajendra said, “Birds are cosmopolitan and indeed enrich the dynamics of ecological balance. Their absence could destabilise nature’s crafted balance. Our social construct is so intricately linked with birds that Twitter symbolises the voice of birds.”

The students had the opportunity to explore avian diversity through ‘Explore-Spot-Click-Identify’ session. They spotted several migratory winter visitors, such as western yellow wagtail and black redstart.

‘Independent survey’

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Besides the CBC, Dr. Rajendra said the students also conducted an independent survey on campus for over a year and spotted 113 species.

“After a year-long survey on campus, 113 birds species were spotted. These included seasonal visitors like pied cuckoos, Indian pitta [spotted in Delhi region after four decades], short-toed snake eagle, wagtails and Indian rollers, and native bird species like myna, dove, pigeon, sparrow, peacock and warbler. The rich winged diversity is amazing even in semi-arid regional landscape with thorny vegetation in lap of Aravali Mountains said Dr. Rajendra.

He, however, lamented over Haryana government’s proposal to shift Kherki Daula toll plaza to Sehrawan village, around a km away from the university, because it will disturb the ecological settings in the area.