Onam Bird Count 2021

The Onam Bird Count in Kerala is an annual celebration of birds in the State. The idea is to go out and count birds during the Onam festival, to get more people interested in birding, and to generate a yearly snapshot of the bird population in Kerala. Onam Bird Count started in 2014 and has taken place every year since.

As a part of the ongoing effort of the Common Bird Monitoring Program (CBMP) of Green Partner’s Program from Social Forestry Wing, the seventh Onam Bird Count is being organized on 20th – 23rd August 2021. As many of us continue to stay at home, this is a good opportunity for us to watch birds around our residences and list them in eBird during these four days.

How to Participate in Onam Bird Count?

Watch and count birds from anywhere you are in Kerala for 4 days, from 20 to 23 August 2021, and upload it to eBird.org/india.

If you are birding outside Kerala, we have no way to know if your lists are part of the Onam Bird Count. Hence, please share your lists with the account Maveli Birder 

Upload as many 15 minute lists into eBird (ebird.org/india).  Each list should be a complete list with counts of all birds that you could identify by sight and/ or sound to the best of your ability.

General Instructions:

If you are a birdwatcher who has not tried eBird or have bird-watcher friends who are not using eBird, please use these slides as an introduction.

Entering your observations through eBird mobile app is one of the easiest ways to upload your lists and this video can guide you on how to use the App.

Important: Keeping the pandemic in mind, please be careful if you are planning any outdoor birding trips. Please do follow local health guidelines, and bird mindfully.

Please upload all your lists before 10 September 2021.

For an analysis of Onam Bird Count of previous years, please see here

If you have any questions, please do email at [email protected]

Artwork by Jiji Sam

Poster by Harish Babu