2023 India eBird Yearlong Challenge Winners!

Before we announce the winners of the 2023 eBird Yearlong Challenge, here are some details on previous year’s eBirding in India (with the previous year in brackets).

Number of birders: 17,435 (13,214)

Number of observations: 96.8 lakh (80.7 lakh)

Number of lists (all types): 5.9 lakh (4.8 lakh)
Number of species: 1,244 (1,228)

Number of complete lists: 5.2 lakh (3.27 lakh)

Number of unique lists with media: 58,492 (52,382)

*Table best viewed on a computer

Challenge	Qualifiers	Book gift	No. Qualifiers
Prolific more than 500 lists in the year	Santhi K	The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner	107
Prolific more than 500 lists in the year	Abhin M Sunil, Adarsh Ajay, Adil Ali, Ahmad Faiz Mustafa, Ajay Sarvagnam, Am Amsa, Ambady Sasi, Amrit Raha, Ananya Deshkar, Angeline Mano M, Anish Bera, Anoop Nair, Anuranjan Singh Dhurwey, Ashok Agarwal, Ashwin Viswanathan, Ayan Watve, Bhavishya C M, Bijoy Venugopal, Birder Baba, Chayan Debnath, Deepali Watve, Dibyendu Ash, Digvijay Singh Rathore, Dipankar Dev, Dr Mohammed Umer Sharieff, Dr. Adil A, Elavarasan M, Francis D’Souza, Gaja Mohanraj, Ganeshwar S V, Gaurav Singh, H Nambiar, Hakimuddin F Saify, Hareesha A.S, Harikrishnan C P, Jageshwer Verma, Jalmesh Karapurkar, Janardhan Uppada, Jayadev Menon, Joe M Raja, Kalaiselvan V, Karthikeyan R, Keerthi Priya, Krishnendu Das, Kunan Naik, Lakshmikant Neve, Lathika Anoth, Lobsang Tsering, Mahendra Hegde, Manash Pratim, Manjula Desai, Manoj Karingamadathil, Manoj Kumar Mk1, Manoj Pai, Mayuri Jani, Mehala Kumar, Mohan Asampalli, Mohit Sahu, Moovendan Ramalingam, Munish Gowda, Nihal Mahesh, Padma Gyalpo, Panchapakesan Jeganathan, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Prabhudatta Bal, Pranad Patil, Premchand Reghuvaran, Rahul Chetre, Rajendra Koranga, Rajubhai Patel, Ramesh Shenai, Renju Tr, Rofikul Islam, Sagar Naik, Sahana M, Sakthi Chinnakannu, Sandhya Lenka, Sandip Das, Sanjiv Khanna, Sanju Bennur, Santhi K, Sarabjeet Kaur, Seema Tekam, Shashikiran Ganesh, Shilpa Gadgil, Shivaprakash Adavanne, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Siva T, Spoorthi Nagaraju, Sreekumar Chirukandoth, Sreelal K Mohan, Steffin Babu, Subhadra Devi, Sudip Simha, Sujith Raj Salian, Supriya Kulkarni, Tanuja Dasharath Haunsbhavi, Urjit Singh, Vasen Suli, Vasi, Vidhya Swaminathan, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vikrant Prabhulkar, Vinay K L, Vishal Mistry, Vivek Kumar Patel, Vivekananda K.
Consistent at least one list each day of the year (365 lists in 2023)	Vidhya Swaminathan	The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson	28
	Adil Ali, Ajay Sarvagnam, Ashok Agarwal, Bijoy Venugopal, Dipankar Dev, Elavarasan M, Harshith Jv, Janardhan Uppada, Hakimuddin F Saify, Jayadev Menon, Lakshmikant Neve, Manan Mahadev, Manju Sinha, Manoj Kumar Mk1, Mayank Namdeo, Mohit Sahu, Moovendan Ramalingam, Padma Gyalpo, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Ramesh Shenai, Sakthi Chinnakannu, Samir E, Sarabjeet Kaur, Shilpa Gadgil, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Subhadra Devi, Vidhya Swaminathan, Vijaya Lakshmi.
Adventurous at least 4 lists from at least 15 districts	Shivaprakash Adavanne	Birding without Borders by Noha Stryker	62
Adventurous at least 4 lists from at least 15 districts	Abu, Adil Ali, Aditya Rao, Ajay Agarwal, Am Amsa, Ashok Agarwal, Ashwin Viswanathan, Avinash Bhagat, B.R. Ansil, Bijoy Venugopal, Chai Eng Law, Chandramouli Ganguly, Clara Correia, Dalveer Singh, Dhruba Saikia, Dibyendu Ash, Digvijay Singh Rathore, Dilip C Gupta, Gopalakrishna R, Hakimuddin F Saify, Isheta Divya, Jagdish Jatiya, Janardhan Uppada, Jayadev Menon, Jenny Johny Soloman Samuel, Joe M Raja, Karthik Thrikkadeeri, Krishna Murthy, Kunan Naik, Lobsang Tsering, Lokesh Kumar, Madhu Gupta, Mahendra Hegde, Manash Pratim, Manoj Pai, Mayuri Jani, Munish Gowda, Neeraja V, Panchapakesan Jeganathan, Prabhudatta Bal, Praveen J, Rajkamal Goswami, Rajubhai Patel, Ramit Singal, Reshma Rai, Rofikul Islam, Sahana M, Samanvitha Rao, Sandhya Lenka, Sandip Das, Shivaprakash Adavanne, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Sohail Madan, Sreekumar Chirukandoth, Srinivas Daripineni, Sriram Reddy, Subhankar Saha, Sudip Simha, Sunanda Vinayachandran, Swarup Sarkar, Vivek Kumar Patel.
Faithful a least 150 lists from a single location	Abu Birder	The Wonderful Mr Willughby: The First True Ornithologist By Tim Birkhead	133
Faithful a least 150 lists from a single location	Abhin M Sunil, Abu Birder, Adarsh Ajay, Adil Ali, Ahmad Faiz Mustafa, Ains Priestman, Ajay Sarvagnam, Am Amsa, Ambady Sasi, Amee Vyas, Amrit Raha, Ananya Deshkar, Aneesh Sasidevan, Angeline Mano M, Anjali Krishna, Anoop Nair, Anuranjan Singh Dhurwey, Ashika S, Ashok Agarwal, Baseer Baniya, Bhaarat Vyas, Bharatendra Singh Parihar, Bhavishya C M, Bikash Dalbot Shira, Birder Baba, Chai Eng Law, Chaitanya M P, Chayan Debnath, Chinmay Bhoyar, Deepali Watve, Dipankar Dev, Dr Mohammed Umer Sharieff, Dr. Adil A, Elavarasan M, Fermin Jose, Francis D’Souza, Ganeshwar S V, Gaurav Singh, Gowthami N, Hakimuddin F Saify, Hareesha A.S., Harikrishnan C P, Harsha Jayaramaiah, Harshith J V, Jaisal Singh Bhati, Janardhan Uppada, Jayadev Menon, Joe M Raja, Joshika Tanujakumar, Kalaiselvan V, Keerthana Muthuraman, Krishnendu Das, Kunan Naik, Lakshmi Bharadwaj, Lakshmikant Neve, Lathika Anoth, Madhu Gupta, Mahesh Rathod, Manan Mahadev, Manash Pratim, Manju Sinha, Manoj Kumar Mk1, Manoj Pai, Mayank Namdeo, Mehala Kumar, Mohan Asampalli, Mohit Sahu, Monica Sri K, Moovendan Ramalingam, Mukundan Kizhakkemadham, Munish Gowda, Murugesan Kandasamy, Navaneeth Sini George, Navya Vyas, Neel Brahme, Nigin Babu, Nihal Mahesh, Nishand Venugopal, Panchapakesan Jeganathan, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Prabhav Benara, Pradeep C R, Pradeeshwar R.J, Pranad Patil, Rahul Singh, Rahul Chetre, Rajendra Koranga, Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Raju Ankasamudra, Rajubhai Patel, Ramaswamy V, Ramesh Shenai, Rrbcea Empressgarden, Sakthi Chinnakannu, Samir E, Sandeep Kumar Reddy Gangasani, Sandhya Lenka, Sanjeev Nalavade, Sanjiv Khanna, Sanju Bennur, Santharam V, Santhi K, Sarabjeet Kaur, Seema Tekam, Selvaraj Arjun, Sharad Apte, Shashikiran Ganesh, Shaurya Rahul Narlanka, Shilpa Gadgil, Shino Jacob Koottanad, Shreyas Joshi, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Siva T, Spoorthi Nagaraju, Sreelal K Mohan, Sri P, Srushti Bokil, Steffin Babu, Subhadra Devi, Sudhanva Jahagirdar, Supriya Kulkarni, Tanuja Dasharath Haunsbhavi, Urjit Singh, V Sitaram, Vasen Suli, Vasi, Vidhya Swaminathan, Vidyasagar Jagtap, Vigneshwaran B, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vinay K L, Vivekananda K, Vyom Vyas.
Dedicated at least 500 hours of birding in all	Munish Gowda	The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talks, Work, Play, Parent and Think By JENNIFER ACKERMAN	75
Dedicated at least 500 hours of birding in all	Abu Birder, Adil Ali, Afsar Nayakkan, Ahmad Faiz Mustafa, Ains Priestman, Am Amsa, Angeline Mano M, Anish Bera, Anuranjan Singh Dhurwey, Arun Rai, Avinash Bhagat, Bharatendra Singh Parihar, Bijoy Venugopal, Bikash Dalbot Shira, Chai Eng Law, Clara Correia, Deepa Mohan, Dibyendu Ash, Digvijay Singh Rathore, Dilip C Gupta, Dipankar Dev, Dombe Pradhan, Dr Mohammed Umer Sharieff, Fermin Jose, Francis D’Souza, Ganeshwar S V, Harsha Jayaramaiah, Janardhan Uppada, Jayadev Menon, Jayanta Manna, Joe M Raja, Keerthi Priya, Krishnendu Das, Lobsang Tsering, Manash Pratim, Manoj Kumar Mk1, Moovendan Ramalingam, Munish Gowda, Padma Gyalpo, Parag Gurung, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Prabhudatta Bal, Pranad Patil, Raju Kasambe, Ramesh Shenai, Rejoice Gassah, Rick Karan Toor, Rofikul Islam, Sachin Sharma, Sahana M, Sakthi Chinnakannu, Samanvitha Rao, Sandhya Lenka, Sandip Das, Santhi K, Savio Fonseca, Selvaraj Arjun, Shakti Vel, Sharad Apte, Shilpa Gadgil, Shivaprakash Adavanne, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Sourav Mandal, Srinivas Mallela, Sudip Simha, Sujith Raj Salian, Swarup Sarkar, Tarachand Bairwa, Team Bws, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vikram S, Vikram Yadav, Vikrant Prabhulkar, Vivek Rawat, Vivekananda K.
eBirder of the Year eBirder of the month for at least 8 months	Amrit Raha	Delightful Horror of Family Birding: Sharing Nature with the Next Generation Eli J Knapp	24
	Adil Ali, Ajay Sarvagnam, Amrit Raha, Anish Bera, Ashok Agarwal, Dipankar Dev, Dr Mohammed Umer Sharieff, Gaja Mohanraj, Hakimuddin F Saify, Janardhan Uppada, Jayadev Menon, Krishnendu Das, Lakshmikant Neve, Mehala Kumar, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Ramesh Shenai, Sarabjeet Kaur, Shilpa Gadgil, Shyamkumar Puravankara, Sourav Mandal, Sreekumar Chirukandoth, Vidhya Swaminathan, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vivek Kumar Patel.

(Updated names on 23-01-2024)

Well done to all birders who met targets for any of these yearlong challenges! Those chosen by a lucky draw will all receive the books listed above.

Special congratulations to the very devoted who qualified for the eBirder of the Year. The one person chosen by a lucky draw from the twenty four qualifiers is Amrit Raha. He receives a copy of Eli J Knapp‘s Delightful Horror of Family Birding: Sharing Nature with the Next Generation.

The above list does not include group accounts and those with no identifiable names.
From this year onwards, we’ll be including all eligible lists with zero-species as long as they are complete lists of at least 15 minutes or more and have no Xs.

If you haven’t started already, do take part in the following year-long challenges:

eBird India Yearlong challenge for 2024

2024-checklist a day challenge (global challenge)

Header Image: Nicobar Parakeet Psittacula caniceps by Shakti Vel/ Macaulay Library