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Great Backyard Bird Count Results

Summary

India has been participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) since 2013! Like, every year this year too, the 11th edition of GBBC India was a big hit. Between 17 to 20 February 2023, 4,259 birders uploaded *53,750 checklists and recorded an impressive 1,072 species— 79% of the total number of species known to occur in the country! In comparison to GBBC 2022, this year India had 13% more birders from 2% more districts in the event. A big thank you to all state coordinators and to everyone who organised bird walks, and talks on campuses and elsewhere in the country. We are grateful to all data quality reviewers who reviewed all observations in such a short span of time.

The total number of checklists presented in this summary may vary from the global results as some checklists containing 0 species have not been included here. If any of you have 0 species-15 minutes-complete lists made during GBBC 2023, then please email at [email protected]

GBBC Global

India did very well around the world by uploading the second-most checklists and the third-most species of any country.

Top 5 countries in terms of lists uploaded during GBBC 2023

Top 5 countries in terms of species reporting during GBBC 2023

Numbers may change slightly as final checklists are added and validated by our reviewers

GBBC India

Like every GBBC, the majority of checklists come from southern Indian states. However, this year, Maharashtra has overtaken Karnataka—uploading 3,500 more lists than Karnataka and secured third position. Kudos to birders in Pune for their magnificent effort.

It was wonderful to see  the enthusiasm among the north and northeast Indian states towards documenting the bird life in their respective regions. Bihar with just 27 lists last year uploaded 159 lists this year and Sikkim with 173 lists had more than 9 times the lists as in 2022 (18).

Participation more than tripled in West Bengal, while Tripura crossed the 1000-mark for the first time with more than three times as many lists as many lists as in 2022 (369).

Arunachal Pradesh also saw a remarkable increase in participation from 116 lists in 2022 to 917 this year.
Participation doubled in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Goa, Nagaland and Manipur.

A special shoutout to birders in Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Manipur who have participated enthusiastically in this year’s GBBC. 

In this map, each list contributed to GBBC is shown as a translucent circle. Deeper yellow indicates overlapping circles, which signals more lists from that location.

GBBC 2023 Coverage Map

States that uploaded over 1,000 checklists

Just like the last few years Salem district in Tamil Nadu alone uploaded over 10,000 checklists during this GBBC! A big shout out to Pune birders for uploading the second highest number of lists! 

Districts that uploaded over 500 checklists

Highlights from GBBC 2023!

GBBC in India has been experiencing enormous growth year after year, with more and more new regions participating and thereby spreading the joy of birdwatching. This year, the following states have shown an astounding increase in the number of lists uploaded.

Comparison table showing states and union territories that showed increase in checklists

Here is a graph showing how the northeastern states of India did this year in comparison to GBBC 2022

Here is a graph showing how some of the other stats fared in comparison to GBBC 2022

GBBC 2023 State coverage

GBBC 2023 District coverage

Top birders in each state, in terms of the number of 15 mins checklists uploaded

Top 30 birders in India in terms of the number of 15 mins checklists uploaded

Thanks to everyone who played a pivotal role in improving their regions’ participation in GBBC 2023!

A shoutout to the Foundation for Ecological Society (FES), Andaman Avians Club (A & N Islands only Birding Club), Thanamir Birding Team, Salem Ornithological Foundation (SOF), Birdwatchers’ Society of West Bengal and all the other groups for their wonderful efforts in planning, coordinating and participating in this event.

What are the most common species in India?

Just live previous years, Common Myna remains the most common species in all regions except the West.  Last year, while Red-vented Bulbul was the second most common species (in five out of seven regions), this year it is the Rose-ringed Parakeet (in four out of seven regions).

Himalayas, North and Central: These regions continues to report the same set of species as last year with minor changes in reporting frequency.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Plume-toed Swiftlet, Red-whiskered Bulbul continue to maintain in the top 5 however, Andaman Coucal, White-throated Kingfisher and Brown Shrike are replaced by Olive-backed Sunbird, Common Myna and Asian Koel. Asian Koel has not been in top 5 in the previous two GBBCs.

East: The species order remains the same as last year except that the Oriental Magpie Robin is replaced by the Common Tailorbird.

West: Interestingly, Eurasian Collared Dove made it to top 5 which wasn’t the case in the last two year’s GBBCs.

South: Except Rose-ringed Parakeet displacing the Indian Pond Heron, the rest of the species order and the frequency remains the same.

The map shown below illustrates the 5 most common species in terms of their frequency of reporting, in seven broad regions in India.

Campus Bird Count Results

Campus Bird Count observed at Stella Maris College, Chennai. Photo by Vidhya Swaminathan

The Campus Bird Count runs alongside GBBC in India, to record the birdlife in the multiple campuses across India and to promote birdwatching within institutions. Campuses include educational and training institutions, government institutions, research stations, corporate campuses, and so on. This year, a total of 171 campuses across India participated in the Campus Bird Count, uploading a total of 5,814 unique checklists.

CBC 2023

Top campuses in terms of more than 50 unique checklists uploaded

Top 30 campuses in terms of species reported

• GBBC/ CBC in the News
• GBBC 2023 associated events (bird walks and talks)
• List of registered campuses
• GBBC Global
• GBBC 2022 in India
  

  Bird Monitoring in India

  • Visit the Bird Count India website
  • Join the Facebook group

  Contact Bird Count India at [email protected]

  What Next?

  GBBC will be back on 16–19 Feb, 2024

  In the meantime, keep eBirding and monitoring birds!

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Header Image: Students from Mangan Sr. Secondary High School, North Sikkim participating in GBBC 2023. Photo by Dibyendu Ash