THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fresh water lake Vellayani and the paddy fields of Punchakkari totally disappointed the bird watchers of the HSBC Kerala Bird Race as they could sight only 47 species, while last year’s count was 70. But the sightings of Rosy Starlings feeding on Acacia trees and of the Red Munias were something to be happy about.The Kerala Bird Race-2011, that was held at six different locations in the city, revealed a heavy fall in bird population at Vellayani and Akkulam. A joint initiative of HSBC, Euhina Eco Media, Kerala Birder and WWF-India, the active participation of 78 bird watchers, including school students, their teachers and parents, professionals, and elders in an age range of 8-70, made the Bird Race a great success. The participants were grouped into six teams and were equipped with binoculars and bird log books. Akkulam - Veli wetlands, Museum - Zoo compound and city, Punchakari - Vellayani lake and surrounding areas, Arippa - Kulathupuzha - Palode, Bonacaud - Chathancode, and Kallar - Ponmudi were the Bird Race sites. Each team compulsorily included an expert bird watcher accompanied by budding bird watchers and enthusiasts. The teams were out in the field the entire day from 6 am to 3 pm. The Arippa - Kulathupuzha forests came out with important bird sightings like that of Orange-breasted green pigeon, Black baza and Velvet-fronted nuthatch. The sighting of three Pea fowls, usually seen in dry planes, at Bonacaud, a hill station like Ponmudi, indicates the rise in atmospheric temperature. The wetland of the city, Akkulam - Veli, resulted for 53 species, giving a positive indication for birders after a lot of ecological threats. Akkulam wetlands had a good number of birds - up to 78 in previous years. Sighting of eight predator birds, including Black baza, was the important news from Kallar - Ponmudi. The winners who sighted the maximum number of species were announced in the evening and the team which surveyed the area of Arippa - Kulathupuzha forests won the first prize with a sighting of 85 species, the team which surveyed Bonacaud - Chathancode forests won the second prize with 71 species and the team which visited Kallar - Ponmudi area won the third prize with 55 species. Taking into consideration the very important rarity aspect, the Orange-breasted green pigeon reported from the Kulathupuzha forests was declared as the Bird of the Day again. All the teams put together reported 148 species of birds during the day’s event. Yunis Kunju, who was the eldest among the participants, and Master Andrews, who was the youngest bird watcher of the race, were also given token awards. The evening programme started off with a welcome address by C Harikumar, Resource Person of WWF-India. Thrivedi Babu IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (E&TW), Kerala Forests &Wildlife Department, Government of Kerala, was the chief guest.All the six team leaders with the members shared their experiences and presented the findings. The location, number of species, Bird of the Day (most important sighting) and Dip of the Day (the bird most expected, but not seen) for each location, and the highlights of major observations were covered in the presentations.
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