A one day workshop on “Bird Monitoring in Kerala – A Citizen Science Initiative” was held at Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur on 12 July 2014. About 60 birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts, representing various organisations in South India participated in the workshop. Participants represented Cochin Natural History Society (CNHS), Kottayam Nature Society (KNS), Malabar Natural History Society (MNHS), World Wide Fund for Nature – Kerala (WWF), Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Warblers and Waders, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), KeralaBirder, Birdwatchers of Kerala, Hume’s Centre for Ecology & Wildlife Biology, Mathrubhumi-SEED, Koodu Magazine, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Rice Research Centre, College of Forestry etc. Top CBMP and eBird listers also attended the workshop.
Agenda
| 09:30-09:45 | Introductions, Agenda Review |
| 09:45-10:30 | Bird listing and eBird in India |
| 10:30-11:00 | CBMP Results |
| 11:00-11:15 | Break |
| 11:15-12:45 | CBMP Open House – What went right – What went wrong |
| 12:45-13:45 | Lunch Break |
| 13:45-14:45 | CBMP Open House – Action Plan: 2014-15 |
| 14:45-15:15 | Heronry Count – Strategy & Methodology |
| 15:15-15:30 | Break |
| 15:30-16:00 | Pelagic Survey – Strategy & Methodology |
| 16:00-16:30 | AWC Results |
Key Decisions
- New initiative: Onam Bird Count focused mainly on students during their vacation.
- Move data collation of Kerala Bird Race into eBird.
- Continue 2014 CBMP methodology unchanged into 2015 on same dates as Great Backyard Bird Count.
- Prepone CBMP new birdwatcher training to December and involve the trainees in Wetland Counts during January.
- Recommend opportunities to install Pandal (Marquee) in select heronries based on the results from Heronry Counts.
- Accelerate pelagic counts in all districts to obtain round the year data.
- Wetland counts to be designed to ensure count coverage of all wetland dependent species – at the same time listing all species.
Presentations
- eBird in India-Birding to make a difference: Suhel Quader
- Common Bird Monitoring Program -2014-Results: Praveen J
- Pelagic Monitoring-Tips & Guidelines: Dipu K
Workshop Participants displaying CBMP Posters
Header Image: Slaty-breasted Rail Lewinia striata by Latha Prabhakaran/ Macaulay Library
This is taking citizen science to another level! Congrats to everyone involved.