July brings the much-anticipated monsoon season to a significant portion of India, with rainfall gracing many regions across the country. The arrival of rainfall breathes new life into the landscape, revitalizing it and offering sustenance to a wide range of living organisms. Numerous breeding birds enter a crucial period when their young ones and fledglings start venturing out on their own, seeking independence and navigating their own choices. These inexperienced individuals encounter numerous challenges, such as locating suitable places to feed and rest, all the while evading predators. Even if you’re unable to explore distant places, keep an eye out for young birds from the comfort of your gardens, balconies, and rooftops.
This month’s challenge is to upload at least one list per day all through the month. Each list should be complete, of at least 15 mins duration, and with no ‘X’s.
Whenever you see birds showing any signs of breeding, choose the breeding behaviour codes. 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 again, F and H are not breeding codes).
While observing/documenting breeding birds please follow these practices: maintain a suitable distance; don’t use playback; don’t trample habitats where birds are likely to nest. If you fear that others may notice your observations and disturb the birds you have seen nesting, you can delay adding your comments or photographs for a few weeks. Please follow the basic principles of birding ethics, including in photography.
Please upload all your lists by 10 August 2023 so that we can announce the results soon after that.
* Eligible checklists are those that report all species seen/heard (and are therefore marked ‘complete’), report numbers for all species rather than Xs, and are of at least 15 minutes or longer in duration.
Here are the general rules of our monthly challenges. And check out the yearlong challenges for 2023 as well! You can keep track of fresh lists coming in from India on this page.
A list of challenges at the global level can be seen here. Click here to view the global eBirding challenge of the month.
For those new to eBird, read the brief description, and go through our detailed beginner’s guide; create an account and start using eBird right away to get used to the platform.
Header Image: Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus by Raghavendra Pai/ Macaulay Library
