For the second year on the run, a one day workshop on Bird Monitoring in Kerala was held at Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur on 14 June 2015 . About 70 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), Bird Count India, Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), KeralaBirder, Birdwatchers of Kerala, Hume’s Centre for Ecology & Wildlife Biology, Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS), Rice Research Centre, College of Forestry, Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (KANS) etc. Top CBMP and eBird listers also attended the workshop. Representatives from Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB), UK and Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) were external observers.
Agenda
| 09:00-09:30 | Registration |
| 09:30-10:00 | Introductions, Agenda Review, Review of 2014 Minutes |
| 10:00-11:00 | CMBP: Results, Concerns & Improvements |
| 11:15-11:30 | Break |
| 11:30-12:15 | Bird Atlas: Introduction & Overview (Presentation) |
| 12:15-13:00 | Bird Atlas: Requirements & Broad Plan |
| 13:00-13:45 | Lunch Break |
| 13:45-14:15 | Poster Presentation |
| 14:15-15:15 | Bird Atlas: Detailed Plan & Coordination |
| 15:15-15:30 | Outreach for Bird Atlas |
| 15.30-15:45 | Heronry Count: Results, Concerns & Actions |
| 15.45-16.00 | Break |
| 16.00-16:30 | Pelagic Survey: Concerns & Realignment |
| 16.30-16:45 | AWC: Results & Concerns |
Key Decisions
- Bird Atlas surveys for Thrissur and Alappuzha in 2015-16
- Bird Atlas surveys for rest of districts starting from 2016-20.
- Bird-watching and eBird training to be targeted to college students with focussed on-field training.
- Improve involvement & partnership of Kerala Forest Department in all monitoring programs.
- Proposals for Heronry conservation to be made more concrete.
Presentations
- CBMP : Results, Concerns and Improvements Praveen J
- Bird Atlases: Introduction and Overview Suhel Quader
- Kerala Bird Atlas Preparation Praveen J
- Heronries of Kerala 2014 Results Roshnath R
- Heronry Survey Methodology: Concerns & Actions Roshnath R
- Pelagic Bird Monitoring: Status Update 2014-15 Jinesh PS
Thirty minutes was spent immediately after lunch break on four parallel poster presentations by active field biologists from Kerala. They are as below.
Poster Presentations
- Phylogeographic of Montane birds: CK Vishnudas
- Oriental Darter Biology: Prasanth Naryanan S
- Heronries: Roshnath Ramesh
- Sacred groves of northern Kerala
For details of 2014 Workshop, see here
Header Image: Blue-throated FlycatcherCyornis rubeculoides © Sriram Reddy/ Macaulay Library
Can someone post the sacred grove post here.