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 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 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...
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.
Some tips on vocal identification of Jungle and Rock Bush-Quails in Peninsular India
By Anand Krishnan and Sarthak Malusare Introduction Two Perdicula bush-quails—Jungle Bush-Quail (Perdicula asiatica) and Rock Bush-Quail (Perdicula argoondah), are widespread in Peninsular India in scrub-jungle and grassland habitats. Like many quails, they are...
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...
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...
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...
Cormorants Clarified
By Ramit Singal Ever seen a V-shaped flock of black birds flying purposefully in the sky near a water body? Or a black bird sitting still with its wings spread out in a small village pond? Or a bird's head sticking out of the water at a lake or pond? Did you notice...
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...
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