322 bird species found in Raj at 4-day global event

Jaisalmer: Rajasthan has bagged the 10th position in the 26th Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) with the sighting of 322 bird species, but it achieved the fifth position with a total 2,958 checklists submitted by enthusiastic bird watchers from all the districts.
As many as 23 bird lovers and enthusiasts from Jaisalmer participated in GBBC, a four-day global event that took place from February 18 to 21. In Rajasthan, Jaisalmer district achieved the fifth place with the sighting of 190 bird species and 385 checklists. The bird watchers recorded these sightings at 16 places in Jaisalmer, out of which Netsi Lake recorded the highest sighting of 120 bird species, Gadisar Lake 78 bird species, and Degrai Temple pond 62 species.
Preliminary results of the bird count were declared on Saturday, showing that the Indian birding community performed well at a global level by uploading the second highest number of checklists and sighting 1,067 bird species, the third highest after Colombia and Ecuador.
Netsi Lake also emerged as the sixth top-most birding hotspot with a record sighting of 120 bird species. In Jaisalmer, foreign tourists Rick Bowers submitted 42 checklists, and Peder Svingen and Barbara Kelly each submitted 38 checklists. Local birders Parth Jagani recorded the highest number of 130 bird species, and Daulat Panwar recorded 114 bird species.
Jagani, a wildlife lover and avid bird watcher, coordinated this annual event in Jaisalmer through ERDS Foundation’s community conservation volunteer’s network.
Jaisalmer district remains an important destination for many migratory birds, said Dr Sumit Dookia, a deputy professor of Guru Govind Singh Indraprstha University in New Delhi and the honorary scientific advisor of ERDS Foundation.
“Regular monitoring of birds in the village water bodies, orans, ranns and scrub forests is important. Birding-based tourism is a big business, and this should be properly explored by local youths to start entrepreneurships. ERDS Foundation, working on the same line, has trained more than ten local youths in birding-based tourism,” added Dr Dookia.