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Bunting Count
Join the 3rd edition of Bunting Count where Asian countries are teaming up to monitor buntings for conservation. The goal is to raise awareness and conduct baseline studies on key bunting sites..
WINGS—Birds of India
India Bird Races has been rebranded as WINGS—Birds of India. This new identity reflects their expanded focus as a nature awareness program dedicated to celebrating and protecting India’s incredible birdlife.
Asian Waterbird Census
The dates for the 2025 Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) are 1 Dec 2024 to 28 Feb 2025.
Blue Rock-Thrush
Blue Rock-Thrush (Monticola solitarius) breeds across the more southern latitudes of temperate Eurasia and many populations (not all) migrate further south during winter.
Nocturnal Bird Count Protocol in the Western Ghats
A standardised protocol for nocturnal bird monitoring in India’s forests helps researchers and forest departments study owls and frogmouths during night surveys. Originally designed for the Western Ghats, this scientific methodology can be adapted for forest areas across Peninsular India.
Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker and Stripe-breasted Woodpecker: How can they be told apart?
By Pritam Baruah and Ashwin Viswanathan Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker (FBWO) and Stripe-breasted Woodpecker (SBWO) and are variable woodpeckers that form a species pair in the genus Dendrocopos. Both species can be distinguished from other similar co-occuring...
Bird Atlases
A bird atlas is a citizen science project intended to map the distribution and abundance of a region’s birds. In an atlas project, the region of interest is typically divided into cells that are often subdivided into smaller cells, a design that can ensure uniform sampling in space by volunteer birdwatchers.
ID Articles
A series of articles to help with the identification of difficult birds.
Identifying Waders: Part 2
This article focusses on the two species of a group of very small shorebirds known as Stints (Calidris sp) - the Little Stint and the Temminck's Stint.
Identifying Indian and Singing Bushlarks: White on the tail is not diagnostic!
By Ashwin Viswanathan Indian Bushlark and Singing Bushlark are very similar species that share many morphological features. Identification can be a real challenge. Luckily, one feature has often served as a shortcut out of this identification conundrum - the...
Identifying Swallows: Red-rumped, Barn, Streak-throated and Wire-tailed Swallow
By Kaushik Sarkar and Ashwin Viswanathan Presented here is an easy guide to help identify the four most common Swallow species in India. You can also download just the photographic guide to this article: PDF format (345 KB). In India, there are 15 species of...
Leafbirds – Golden-fronted, Jerdon’s and others
By Ramit Singal There are four species of leafbirds (also known as chloropsis) found in India and they never fail to enthral a birder. Each of them is largely green, slender in build, with a medium-length tail and the habit of dwelling in the top or mid-canopy....
Frequency Matters: Acoustic Identification of Barbets
By Anand Krishnan Barbets are some of the most ubiquitous of India’s fruit-eating birds, even occupying most major cities where fruiting trees remain. These sluggish, largely green birds are often heard before they are seen, their loud, repetitive calls betraying...
Keeping an ear out for prinias: A beginner’s guide to vocal identification
-Anand Krishnan Every new birdwatcher starts off identifying birds using illustrations of plumage in a field guide. Building field skills, we all eventually use a suite of traits to ID birds, of which plumage is just one. Behavioural traits, habitat and other...
फ्लाईकैचर की पहचान करना: रेड-ब्रेस्टेड, टैगा और कश्मीर फ्लाईकैचर
रेड-ब्रेस्टेड, टैगा और कश्मीर फ्लाईकैचर तीनो एक जैसे दिखने वाले फ्लाईकैचर हैं। लेकिन इन तीन प्रजातियों के बीच अंतर करना मुश्किल हो सकता है! हालाँकि नर की पहचान करना काफी आसान है परन्तु मादा और पहले शीतकालीन पक्षियों को अलग-अलग बता पाना बेहद मुश्किल है। हालांकि यह आलेख उन प्रमुख विशेषताओं का वर्णन करता है जिससे पहचान करने में मदद मिलती हैं, याद रखें कि पृथक्करण के लिए इनमें से कई विशेषताएँ अपर्याप्त हैं। इन तीन बहुत समान दिखने वाली फ्लाईकैचर को अलग करने के लिए आपको अक्सर कई विशेषताओं के संयोजन पर विचार करने की आवश्यकता होगी।
Identifying Pipits: Blyth’s and Richard’s Pipits
Blyth's and Richard's Pipits winter across the region and are easily confused with Paddyfield Pipits. Here's how to ID them.
Identifying Flycatchers: Red-breasted, Taiga and Kashmir Flycatcher
By Tarun Menon and Ashwin Viswanathan This article is available in Hindi, Kannada, and Marathi Red-breasted, Taiga and Kashmir Flycatcher are three very similar looking flycatchers belonging to the Ficedula genus. Initially, all three were considered to be...
Field Identification of Green and Greenish Warblers
By Ramit Singal Green and Greenish Warblers have always been notoriously difficult to tell apart. Till recently, Green Warbler (P. nitidus) was considered to be a subspecies of the Greenish Warbler (P. trochiloides). Considering the difficulties involved in...
The Jungle Babbler and its Six Sisters
The guide to identifying the 7 species of turdoides babblers found in India
Identifying Waders: Part 1
In the first part of the series related to identifying waders, we try and tackle an often misidentified group consisting of the Tringa sandpipers.
Identifying Flycatchers: Red-breasted, Taiga and Kashmir Flycatcher
By Tarun Menon and Ashwin Viswanathan This article is available in Hindi, Kannada, and Marathi Red-breasted, Taiga and Kashmir Flycatcher are three very similar looking flycatchers belonging to the Ficedula genus. Initially, all three were considered to be...
What’s that White Egret sp?
By Ramit Singal Egrets are beautiful and elegant birds to watch. You'll often see them standing still over water and, in a flash, using their long, pointed bills to stab a fish or pick out an insect. No matter where you are in India, it is common to see one or many...
फ्लाईकैचर की पहचान करना: रेड-ब्रेस्टेड, टैगा और कश्मीर फ्लाईकैचर
रेड-ब्रेस्टेड, टैगा और कश्मीर फ्लाईकैचर तीनो एक जैसे दिखने वाले फ्लाईकैचर हैं। लेकिन इन तीन प्रजातियों के बीच अंतर करना मुश्किल हो सकता है! हालाँकि नर की पहचान करना काफी आसान है परन्तु मादा और पहले शीतकालीन पक्षियों को अलग-अलग बता पाना बेहद मुश्किल है। हालांकि यह आलेख उन प्रमुख विशेषताओं का वर्णन करता है जिससे पहचान करने में मदद मिलती हैं, याद रखें कि पृथक्करण के लिए इनमें से कई विशेषताएँ अपर्याप्त हैं। इन तीन बहुत समान दिखने वाली फ्लाईकैचर को अलग करने के लिए आपको अक्सर कई विशेषताओं के संयोजन पर विचार करने की आवश्यकता होगी।
Dark egrets can be white…
By Ramit Singal The previous article focussed on the 4 regularly occurring white egrets from India. In this follow-up post, the attention will shift to egrets that happen to be dimorphic, i.e., they have a dark morph as well as a white morph. The Reef-Egrets are...
Frequency Matters: Acoustic Identification of Barbets
By Anand Krishnan Barbets are some of the most ubiquitous of India’s fruit-eating birds, even occupying most major cities where fruiting trees remain. These sluggish, largely green birds are often heard before they are seen, their loud, repetitive calls betraying...
Bushlarks, Skylarks, & Crested Larks
By Ramit Singal Hopefully, you've had some practice over the past month(s) in telling apart larks from pipits. In this article, we'll try and give some tips to tell between 3 different groups of larks and the species within these groups. We'll start with the...
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