Rajo Bird Count

Raja (pronounced Raw-Jaw), is a unique festival in Odisha that specifically honors womanhood and marks the beginning of the agricultural year. Coinciding with Mithuna solar month, it signifies the arrival of monsoon rains– a crucial period for agriculture– and celebrates Earth’s life-giving power. Celebrate Raja by participating in the Rajo Bird Count, an annual ‘monsoon’ event in Odisha! 

The rains bring not just relief from the summer heat, but a chorus of chirps and songs in Odisha. June is a great time to witness resident birds engaged in various breeding activities. By participating in this citizen science project across the state, you’ll help monitor breeding bird populations and understand how climate change affects their breeding patterns.

This inaugural Rajo Bird Count, is the first-ever national monsoon bird count in India! It is organized by the Odisha Bird Monitoring Network in association with Bird Count India.

How to participate in Rajo Bird Count?

• Watch and count birds from anywhere in Odisha for the 4 days of the event- 13-16 June 2024
• 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

Visit multiple habitats from the various different regions in the state. Avoid using ‘X’ in your checklists and attempt to arrive at a number each time. Multiple checklists from the same site are also encouraged.

Please upload all your lists by 30 June 2024

For further queries, email: [email protected]

Happy Rajo birding!

Header Image: Brown-headed Barbet (Large Green Barbet) Psilopogon zeylanicus © Sharang Satish/ Macaulay Library