A team of 74 birders have just completed the first leg of the Coimbatore City Bird Atlas, a citizen science project that attempts to map the birds of Coimbatore city. The idea was to understand the distribution and abundance of birds in Coimbatore city through a systematic survey over a period of three years in the months of February and June from 2020 to 2022.
- The city was gridded and divided into 37, 3.3 km x 3.3 km, cells. Each cell is a sampling unit. The cells were then further sub-divided into nine 1.1 km x 1.1 km sub-cells. Three sub-cells were selected randomly from each cell and four, 15-minute long, complete bird lists were recorded in each. Birders from all walks of life, including biology students and wildlife researchers, participated.
- Participants used Locus Free, an Android mobile application, to navigate. The birds seen and heard during the survey were entered using the eBird app under a dedicated eBird group account (username: kovaibirdatlas).
- Of the 142 bird species recorded, the House Crow and the Common Myna were the most abundant, followed by the Rose-ringed parakeet, Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) and the Yellow-billed babbler. Some of the uncommon Species documented include Ashy Drongo, Citrine Wagtail, Common Redshank, Eurasian Kestrel , Gull billed Tern, Indian Grey Hornbill , Jungle Bush quail, River Tern, Short- toed Snake Eagle and the Slaty-breasted Rail.
- Survey for the next season is scheduled for six days in June 2020.
- The team has launched a logo exclusively for the project designed by Boopathy Srinivasan, who records in his blogpost that his interactions with birders of Tamil Nadu drew him towards nature conservation. He made several sketches before narrowing down to one that was shaped like the alphabet C which he designed to look like a bird.
- To know more on the logo, visit https://bit.ly/2KwFDrX
While the field survey is done mainly by birdwatchers of Coimbatore, organisations like the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON); Bird Count India that promotes bird listing, documentation and monitoring in India by encouraging field projects; and Kerala Birders offer technical support. “The Bird Atlas survey by bird watchers is a scientific evaluation of bird community distribution. The assessment helps in long-term studies on birds,” says Dr P Pramod, Principal Scientist of SACON. “The Coimbatore City Bird Atlas team has followed the Kerala State Bird Atlas survey model where the team has done several rounds of surveys covering all districts across the state. The Mysuru City Bird Atlas project mapped the birds of the entire city of Mysuru. The Coimbatore team’s first round of data collection is like a test trial. We have to get more rounds of survey to get better clarity.”
It is an opportunity to learn about urban wildlife and biodiversity, says another advisor to the project, P Jeganathan, wildlife biologist at Valparai-based Nature Conservation Foundation. “The objective is to sensitise people, including policy makers, towards conservation of water bodies and parks that support birds, butterflies and flora. For urban dwellers, they needn’t go to a forest to enjoy Nature. A stroll along the Ukkadam Lake will work just as well. Once people take ownership of these spaces, they will get fiercely protective of them. There are several studies that prove that well-maintained natural spaces in the city contribute to the well-being of the people living there.”
The Coimbatore City Bird Atlas survey follows a standardised protocol. “We gridded the area and encouraged local people to take part. The three-year study will yield abundant data of the birds in specific habitats. The idea is to record the birds in both the summers and winters for the three years. We interacted with scientists Dr P Pramod and Dr Rajah Jayapal at SACON before the project took wing,” says Arulvelan Thilainayagan who took part in the survey. The team also took help from birders Praveen J from Kerala who is a part of the Kerala Bird Atlas Survey and Abinand Reddy from Bird Count India.
Every team has a senior bird watcher who can identify common birds. He is accompanied by a newbie birder. “This way the beginner can also be trained to become an independent bird watcher,” says Jeganathan. The team sets off and is at work between 6.00 and 10.00 am in the sub-cell area it has picked which usually covers one sq km. It could be the main road, a paddy field or around a water body. Careful notes are taken, as are photographs.
Birder K Selvaganesh says just walking around the neighbourhood for no more than 15 minutes can reveal a treat of birds. “And we travel miles to the hills or forests to look for them,” he laughs.
The teams upload the data on the e-bird app where it is cross-checked for veracity and then accepted. Birders in the survey often describe this exercise as an adventure where they navigate locations with the help of Google map. But it is standardised protocol which every team follows.
To know more, visit https://birdcount.in/coimbatore-city-bird-atlas/ or http://coimbatorecitybirdatlas.wordpress.com/