Poila Baisakh Bird Count 2025

The Birdwatchers Society of West Bengal (BWS) is excited to announce the 3rd edition of the Poila Baisakh Bird Count (PBBC), happening from 12th to 15th April 2025.

Poila Baisakh marks the start of the Bengali New Year and welcomes the onset of summer. To celebrate, BWS, in collaboration with Bird Count India, invites birdwatchers across West Bengal to join this annual summer birding event!

April is a fascinating time for birds in the region — many species are already singing and breeding, especially in the Western and Northern hills, while others are still on their way to northern breeding grounds. By participating in this count, you can help track both breeding birds and migrating species during this critical period. Over time, these summer birding records can provide valuable insights into how climate change may be influencing migration patterns and breeding behavior.

How to participate in the Poila Baisakh Bird Count?

• Watch and count birds from anywhere in West Bengal for the 4 days of the event- 12-15 April 2025
• Upload your checklists through the eBird Mobile App
• Ensure that each list is of at least 15 minutes duration
• In fact, if possible, try to make lists that are exactly 15 minutes so that there is easy comparability between years
• All lists should be complete checklists with counts of all birds that you could identify by sight and/or sound to the best of your ability

Monitoring breeding (IMPORTANT)

Report Breeding Codes on eBird! This is an important step to help fulfill one of the objectives of the counts – to monitor breeding activity over time! More the number of checklists with breeding codes, better our understanding of the incidence of each breeding behaviour.

Whenever you see birds showing any signs of breeding, select the appropriate breeding behaviour code. To do this in the eBird App, tap the species name, tap on ‘Add breeding code‘, and select the appropriate purple circle that is closest to your observation (see the example below).

Please note, F (Flyover) and H (Appropriate Habitat) are not breeding codes. Avoid use of H completely. Note that every observation does not require a breeding code!

Watch this webinar to better understand how to use breeding codes.

General Instructions

• Avoid using ‘X’ in your checklists and attempt to arrive at a number each time
• Visit multiple habitats from the various different regions in the state
• Multiple checklists from the same site are also encouraged
• Please upload all your lists by 30 April 2025.

For further queries, email: [email protected]

Happy Poila Baisakh birding!