Sri Venkateswara University in Andhra holds ‘bird walk’ on campus

TIRUPATI: Jungle babblers, blackhooded orioles, spotted doves, coppersmith barbets and numerous birds of other species living on the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) premises, who rarely get any human attention, had around 70 special visitors on Sunday. Avid bird watchers and ornithologists from IISER (Tirupati) took part in a ‘bird walk’ at the SVU campus, which boasts of sheltering a wide variety of bird species.

The participants were divided into several groups, which were led by experts, who walked through every nook and corner of the campus. The event started around 7 am from the zoology department building and lasted for two hours, letting the participants explore common tailorbirds, black drongos (police pitta), sunbirds, red-vented bulbuls, white-browed bulbuls, common mynas, treepies, and greater coucal.

The ornithologists said the Tirupati, Mamandur and Thanapalli areas, which are surrounded by the Seshachalam forests, house over 200 endangered bird species. ‘Birdman’ Karthik, who works with the Tirupati wildlife division and was one of the organisers of the bird walk, said: “We have listed at least 200 species of birds found in and around Tirupati on the application eBird.”