May is peak breeding season for birds across India. Or is it? Sadly breeding seasonality of our birds is poorly known. With Endemic Bird Day approaching, let’s go out to see how many subcontinental endemics are around us. Many of these birds are resident and this is the best time to observe breeding behaviour – which could be courtship or singing, birds nesting or tending to chicks, or you may be lucky to see an adult bird being followed around by a recently fledged individual of the same species.
If you see any of these behaviours – do remember to log them with the relevant breeding and behaviour codes. The breeding codes can be added if you are submitting a checklist using the eBird website or if you are using the eBird mobile app. Do note that the “F – Flyover” option is not a true behaviour/breeding code but may be used in appropriate context. Even if you don’t clear see evidence of breeding, there is an option to report a species “H – in suitable habitat”, which will likely apply in most cases.
The challenge for the month of May is to upload at least 30 no-X, complete checklists
of at least 15-minute duration. The checklists of all those who complete the challenge will be pooled together, out of which the one list will be chosen at random out of those that contain a breeding code. The person who uploaded that list will be sent a small gift in appreciation.
Please upload all your lists by 5 June 2018 so that we can announce the results the next day.
Here are the general rules of our monthly challenges. And check out the yearlong challenges for 2018 as well! You can keep track of fresh lists coming in from India at this page.
Important. if you are new to eBird, please read this description first, and do take a look at our quick-start infographic and also the more comprehensive Beginner’s Guide.
