Telangana Big Day' has its own tune

Hyderabad: While the world celebrates ‘Big Day’ on May 5, the State prepares itself to celebrate ‘Endemic Bird Day’. 

The concept behind Big Day is to record the number of birds one can spot in 24 hours, while Endemic Bird Day celebrates the sightings of resident and native birds in one day.

Amardeep Singh, member of the Society of Birdwatchers, Telangana and AP, says, “Since the weather is too hot and not one bit friendly, we will be getting an early start. That is, before 5 am. We have divided ourselves into smaller teams and will be concentrating on looking at nesting grounds of our birds. We will be going to all green areas near our localities. Although we see most of these birds on a daily basis, we fail to notice them. The number of birds though has come down because of the lack of fruit trees.”

Bird watchers say that this migratory season has been a surprise with more coastal birds being spotted rather than inland birds. Sightings of Curlew Sandpipers, Terek Sandpipers and Plovers have been recorded.

Hari Krishna, member of Hyderabad Birding Pals says, “We had a few surprises during the migratory season. But now on May 5, we are hoping to see residents and also a few migratory birds. Since the breeding time is about to begin, we will see birds building their nests and therefore can locate them in their habitats easily.” More than 300 varieties were found in state last year. 

Local bird watchers are all set to record their sightings on May 5 on the internationally known e-bird app. Srikanth Keshav, a bird watcher says, “We will record our sightings in the group which can geographically locate us; the correct coordinates to the location are also entered on the app. We upload photos of the bird and the upload is cross-checked by many bird lovers. The app is bustling on Global Big Day with bird varieties across the globe.”