33 Bird Species Spotted in Sivarakottai

By Express News Service - MADURAI

Published: 18th February 2014 11:38 AM

Last Updated: 18th February 2014 11:38 AM

Photos

Black-headed munias

A group of bird enthusiasts camped in the village in the early hours on Sunday, to save wetland birds visiting Sivarakottai by documenting their numbers. 

At the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), a global annual four-day event (February 14-17, 2014) engaging bird watchers of all ages in counting birds in their area to know bird population, around thirty nature enthusiasts and bird watchers from the city chose Sivarakottai village for bird watching.

“Wetland birds grab attention in all places and those in the Madurai region are no exception. Hence, we decided to go for wetland birds and the area surrounding the Malaiurani Perumal Koil in Sivarakottai was the apt place for bird watching,” said Tamildasan, a member of a youth-friends’ group called ‘Naanal Nanbargal Kuzhu’.

Continued

Great Backyard Bird Count Goes Global, Shatters Records

Feb. 21, 2013 — From Antarctica to Afghanistan, bird watchers from 103 countries made history in the first global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 15-18, 2013. In the largest worldwide bird count ever, bird watchers set new records, counting more than 25.5 million birds on 120,000+ checklists in four days -- and recording 3,144 species, nearly one-third of the world's total bird species. The data will continue to flow in until March 1.

Building on the success of the GBBC in the United States and Canada for the past 15 years, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and Bird Studies Canada opened the count to the rest of the world for the first time this year, powered by eBird, a system that enables people to report birds globally in real-time and explore the results online. Bird watchers are invited to keep counting every day of the year at www.eBird.org.

Cornell Lab director Dr. John Fitzpatrick says: "This is a milestone for citizen science in so many respects -- number of species, diversity of countries involved, total participants, and number of individual birds recorded. We hope this is just the start of something far larger, engaging the whole world in creating a detailed annual snapshot of how all our planet's birds are faring as the years go by."

Audubon Chief Scientist Gary Langham: "People who care about birds can change the world," said Audubon chief scientist Gary Langham. "That's why this year's record-setting global participation is so exciting. Technology has made it possible for people everywhere to unite around a shared love of birds and a commitment to protecting them."

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130221091827.htm