BirdRace to be held today

The 14th Kerala BirdRace will be held here on Sunday.

Birders will head to different locations at dawn and meet at a given location in the evening with their findings. This year, the event has expanded to include birding enthusiasts from regions and towns other than the three regular ones of Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode.

The Kerala BirdRace is part of the India BirdRaces, which study the avifauna of urban areas and their surrounding habitats to help understand biodiversity and environment better. The events are held across more than a dozen cities across the country between November and March and see participation by over 3,000 people.

While the Indian BirdRaces are a non-competitive event, the race is to try and spot as many birds and explore sites in and around a city.

The All-India coordinator of the event is The Yuhina Canopy, and the Facilitating Partner is United Way Mumbai (UWM). The event is sponsored by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) and locally supported by the College of Forestry, (Kerala Agricultural University), Cochin Natural History Society, Malabar Natural History Society, WWF India, and Bird Count India.

For details, contact Cochin Natural History Society at 94464-37410.