| GBBC-India 2015 home Tips/FAQs |
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Some tips to make your GBBC weekend crackle!
- Please consider using this as an opportunity to introduce people to birding! They will get to have fun, and to see their first birdlist online! Add your event in the comments on the Events page (link).
- The minimum time for a birdlist is 15 min. If you have 2 hours available, it’s good to break this down into four 15-min lists. You can contribute as many lists as you want over the four days of the GBBC.
- It’s best if each list is tied to a single location, so that birds from far apart aren’t combined into a single list. Travelling counts are ideally done within a distance of 5km from start to end. If you are travelling further, it’s good to start a new list.
- The information you contribute is most useful if your lists are complete; that is if you specify all species that you were able to identify. Don’t be tempted to leave out common species like Feral Pigeon, House Crow or Common Myna! When at a wetland, don’t list only waterbirds. This link explains why.
- Your lists are even more valuable if you count individuals of each species, and not report them only as being present. Here is why.
- For those new to eBird, here is a beginner’s guide; and here is a list of some common confusions in species names.
- If you are new to birds and birding, do consider finding and accompanying a more experienced birder. Perhaps you can join one of the events listed here (link coming soon).
- If you have questions, please ask in the comments below, send an email on this google group, or ask on our Facebook event page (link coming soon) or Twitter (@birdcountindia).
Happy Great (Global) Backyard Bird Count!
The results from GBBC 2014 (for India) had been posted earlier, but I can’t find them now. Could you please point me to the link (or upload them again).
Thank you.
The 2014 set of pages (including results) is here: https://birdcount.in/events/gbbc2014/
When I do backyard count should I count the birds like egrets and cormorants that pass through our apartment to the lake nearby ? Because I see hundreds of them everyday passing by. Not sure how it should be done
Hello, and thanks for the question. Yes, please do count these birds as they fly by. To indicate that they were flying over you and not actually landing in your apartment complex, you can use the code “flyover”. You can find this by clicking on “add details” next to the species name (when submitting a list), then select “Breeding Code” and ‘flyover’ is the bottom-most option on the list. Hope this is clear.
Hello,
I’m a Student of M.Sc. zoology, I’m a bird watcher too so I want to start my own nature’s Club. So that I can involve small groups to do the same. For starting a nature’s club what should I do?
Hello, thanks for writing. Great to hear this. All you need is one other like-minded person with you and you have the start of a nature club! Or perhaps there in another such club in your area that you can join? Where in India are you based?
I’m from West Bengal, Barrackpore PIN-743122
We have four in a group all M.Sc. Students. But don’t we need to register anywhere for our own Nature’s Club?