GBBC 2022 at IISER Tirupati
Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is the first online citizen science project to collect data on birds launched in 1998 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society of the United States of America. The project aims to collect data on birds and make them available to everyone in real-time. The project opened internationally in 2013 by beginning data collection in eBird, an online bird observation database launched in 2002 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/). GBBC is a four-day international event where everyone is invited to observe and count birds wherever they are or wherever they want to be.
Over 30 lakh people participated from across the globe in GBBC 2021, observing over 6000 species worldwide. In India alone, more than 2900 people participated, observing 965 species. Andhra Pradesh stood 5th in the country, uploading 1623 checklists. Another event that runs alongside GBBC in India is Campus Bird Count (CBC) to record birds in and around campuses of education, government and training institutions. During CBC events in 2019 and 2020, IISER Tirupati made it to the 3rd position, recording a total of 155 and 181 species, respectively, and with the second-highest number of checklists among all participating campuses in India (615 in 2019 and 1144 in 2020), respectively.
GBBC 2022 was a great success for India! 3782 birders recorded 1017 species in more than 41,000 checklists, among which 1687 were from Andhra Pradesh. In Tirupati, IISER Tirupati did a fantastic job making 766 checklists collectively from the Yerpedu and Mangalam campuses, standing 5th and 7th respectively in the nationwide Campus bird count. 128 species of birds were observed around the Mangalam campus and 96 around the Yerpedu campus.
Birding parties set out to find birds in different habitats in and around Tirupati like forests, grasslands, water bodies, semi-arid forests, hills, crop fields, and human settlements. Here are some of the habitats that were visited.
A grassland at a distance of 3 km from the IISER Tirupati Yerpedu campus. Photo by Dev Bagdi
A Water reservoir called Mallimadugu near Renigunta in Tirupati. Photo by Aravind PS
A Bonelli’s Eagle soared in the sky with two other raptors (not in the photo) over a grassland. Photo by Dev Bagdi
Orange-headed Thrush from Mamanduru Forest. Photo by Harsha Kumar
An Indian Courser was part of a flock of 9 birds in the grassland near Yerpedu. Photo by Harsha Kumar
A Chestnut-capped Rockthrush near Talakona waterfalls. Photo by Senan D’Souza
A Red-collared Dove near IIT Tirupati transit campus. Photo by Senan D'Souza
IISER Tirupati focuses on not just birds but all kinds of wildlife. Here are some other organisms recorded during the event:
A Spider Wasp dragging its kill, a Wolf spider, after paralyzing it with the sting. Photo by Dev Bagdi
IISER Tirupati also contributed to generating records on other campuses in Tirupati, which fueled the competition further! Raja Bandi, Citizen Science Coordinator at IISER Tirupati, conducted birding sessions for graduate and school students around Tirupati, encouraging them to document birds in their own campuses. As the state coordinator of GBBC for Andhra Pradesh, he conducted several training sessions on bird identification for forest officers in the Chittoor district. All of his efforts almost doubled the participation in the GBBC and CBC through continuous engagement with locals and students.
Birder stories from GBBC 2022
As we started moving into a semi-arid scrubland with a party of 8 people, I spotted a fairly large bird perched on top of a tree. The bird was very far and I suspected it to be an Egret, which is not so interesting as we see them everywhere. We continued towards that bird anyways because we had to move in that direction. I realized it was not an Egret but a raptor of some kind. Our feet picked up the pace while maintaining silence. Hiding behind the trees, we moved closer to the bird. Upon reaching within 20-25 m of the bird, we realized it was a Falcon (Falco sp.). I was already amazed to see a Falcon this close, but there was more. It flew, making us anxious as if it would fly away, but it quickly dived to the ground and bolted down onto a reptile-like prey. I was amazed by its magnificent hunting style, which I've heard about and watched on TV. Seeing the bird up close was an experience that can't be explained. Holding onto the prey, it sat down on a branch and started to eat. We observed it for a while, till it flew away. The show was over, leaving me overwhelmed. ~Dev Bagdi, BSMS 2019
The Eurasian Kestrel perched on a tree just before flying into the forest. Photo by Dev Bagdi
Being an urbanite with almost no big, open natural grounds nearby, birding for CBC and GBBC at Tirupati helped me explore the real beauty of nature. I was always motivated to choose ecology as a profession, but this 4-day experience made me confident about my choice and what I actually want to do. Sleeping at 2300 only to wake up at 0000 to make checklists, climbing hills, visiting lakes and the infinitely many poop grounds (human!), sneaking around grasslands to see coursers, riding bikes, trekking in forests, the sun tan: every second of it was worth it and unforgettable. My personal favorite was the part when 4 of us split from the group after sunset to 'explore more', climbed up and down the same trench three times and lost the way back to campus. The very next moment we heard a peculiar call and everyone shouted, "it's a nightjar!", "oh there's also a yellow wattled lapwing calling!!", and "oh we need to find the way back soon!". All in all, I can say that GBBC gave me new friends, new explorations, fantastic experiences and the realization that there's so much more to learn and so much to delve into :) ~Anchita Sharma, BSMS 2019
Members of IISER Tirupati birding club looking at a pipit near the Yerpedu campus. Photo by Parth Menghal
I started birding as a hobby when I first learned about it in my first year at IISER Tirupati. After developing some basic visual identification skills in lockdown for 2 years, I was ready to employ them at GBBC 2022. Equipped with a pair of binoculars, outdoor gear and a handy guide in the Merlin App, I set out on 3 out of the 4 mornings during GBBC. The moist deciduous forests of Tirupati patchy with ponds, lakes and grasslands make the area in and around Tirupati an ideal habitat for a large variety of birds. During GBBC, I explored the area near the campus to visit all the large ponds within 5 kilometers and made notes of some lovely species I saw. Recognizing birds by their plumage, behavior and general description by fellow birders further refined my experience and skill. I also submitted some checklists from within the campus to account for the residents - Spotted Owlet, White-bellied Drongo and cheerful morning Wagtails. My favorite part was identifying Fulvous Whistling-Ducks by matching calls as they were flying overhead on a pitch-black evening. I look forward to GBBC 2023. ~ Parth Menghal, BSMS 2019