A motley group of as many as 150 birders ‘walked the chirp’ in search of their feathered friends in and around the countryside of Manipal. The occasion was the 10th Edition of Manipal Bird Day organised by Manipal Birders Group on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020.
The day began ‘Bird Walk’ from Hotel Sheela Sagar (Opposite MIT campus) at 6:30 a.m. The birders divided themselves in smaller groups of 10-12 members and followed 13 different trails which took them through different terrains like hills, plains, paddy fields and wetlands. The idea was to sight as many birds as possible and record their presence in the region.
When the walk ended at about 10:00 a.m., the different groups have recorded a total of 125 species of birds, which was a bit lesser than the sighting of the yester years. “The 10th edition this year has seen a very good growth of interest among people. At the same time a decline has been seen in the bird species sighted compared to previous years,” said one of the organisers. Some of the rare birds sighted were Indian Pitta, Oriental Turtle Dove, Fork-Tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Orange Breasted Green Pigeon, Eurasian Marsh Harrier and Malabar Pied Hornbill.
The bird walk was followed with an interaction session at KMC Food Court and MAHE Vice Chancellor Dr. H. Vinod Bhat presided over the function. He felicitated six people who actively participated recently in a rescue mission of abandoned birds in Manipal.
A program then continued with a talk on ‘Ethical Photography’ by Dhruvam Desai, final year student of MIT, Manipal. This was followed by ‘Backyard Birding’ with Shubha Bhat from IISc Bangalore. She spoke on different ways to feed the birds with water using different materials for bird baths. “I have recorded 120 species of birds from bird baths in my garden,” she said. She encouraged the participants to have bird baths in their gardens or flats which will help quench the thirst of these little winged wonders during summer.
The participants involved themselves actively in the interaction sessions. The event was accompanied with an art exhibition titled ‘Feathered Jewels’ by Aditya Bhat. He presented around 18 paintings all from his memory of birding encounters.
Participation in Manipal Bird Day was open to all and entry was free.
MANIPAL BIRD DAY
Manipal Bird Day is an annual event dedicated to celebrating birds in Manipal. This day long event brings together a large number of birders from Manipal, Udupi, Mangalore, Mysore, Bangalore, Davangere and other places. Around 150-200 people gather and are split into different teams. They visit the assigned regions and count as many birds as possible. This non competitive event focuses on spreading awareness regarding the diverse avifauna around us. Turn out for this event has been increasing from 3 people to 200 in last 10 years. This is the 10th edition of Manipal Bird Day.
MANIPAL BIRDERS CLUB
Manipal Birders Club started as a Facebook group after the release of the first edition of “A Birders Handbook to Manipal” to share information about the latest sightings. It is now a formal group of over 500 like-minded members that meets at least once a week to go on bird walks. It is now a large birders community and a medium to organize events, bird walks and discussions about birds and sightings.
The next step would be to involve a higher number of local and young birders who will dictate the change in environment around the town in the coming years. With the co operation of Zoology and natural sciences students and other nature enthusiasts and faculty of different colleges weekly birding sessions have been conducted to involve and encourage more and more people to bird and get connected to the nature and to try to understand the changes happening around us, the media release issued by the group said.
Mr Khader, who is also the minister for food and civil supplies and consumer affairs in Karnataka, said: Mr Modi has so much of concern over the developments in Balochistan, but is least bothered about the injustice that Karnataka is facing on this vital issue. “Is Balochistan more important for you than Karnataka,” Mr Khader questioned.
Comments
Balochistan may be important for him, may be next he will run for UN Gen. Secretary's post.
Another important thing from his speech, \When terrorists killed school children in Balochistan, Hindustan, Parliament had tears. Every Indian school was in tears.\"
But, what happened to his \"Tears\" when Gujarat terror happened?? when unborn babies are killed in mother's wombs????"
Really joky comments here by sangheez....utk please wait till our pm finish his world travel drama and selfie collection.....modi already called naren and Viren....trouble makers in the name of go raksha...ha ha...what more should the bhakts need.....shameless creatures ...
Do not put any dislikes or likes for the comments posted by Ve_r_n or N_r_n. Because more you put dislikes they get more encouraged to write provocative comments.
Naren, what a rubbish..... you cannot tolerate that a muslim is a minister....
Utk stop doing drama baazi ...u r fit for nothing ...we all know what u did when u worked as health minister ...35 rs medicine invoiced at 300rs ...hogappa saaku ...kandideeni ...if u r a powerful leader stand in the constituency where Indians are in large no ...u are winning election becoz of j_h_d_ votes .
Modi has no time to meet Siddarammayya to discss Kavery issue, but he has plenty of time to turn his flight to Pakistan and to eat biriyani with Nawaz Shareef.
Mangana kayyalli maanikya kotta haage aagide.
what can you expect from Moun minister....he will wake up during election time and give some speech to fool his blind bhakts like viren...by raising hand..fingers...
great Mouni Baba. never we seen such Mouni baba in Indian History. Manege Maari Pararige Upakaari
He may not go against the Supreme court... but... ahem...ahem...What about Yettinahole Sir?
Good points by Mr Prajwal. These days all bachchalis pose questions to Modiji just to get publicity. That's the power of 'NaMo Naamochchara'
Mr Khader!
You know that Karnataka is integral part of India. But, Modiji knows that both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are integral parts of India. Where were you when Manmohan Singh was India's PM? Did he intervene in Cauvery row? Did he help Kannadigas?
for Karnataka people, Karnataka is more important than India....For Modi Baluch is more important than India....shame....
Delhi
Karnataka
and those states who doesnt bow down to cheddis will face injustice ...
But dont worry Truth will prevail even if the evil cheddis play many deception (temporary enjoyment for cheddis) to fool the public with fake IT cell of cheddis.
Add new comment