Birders and bird enthusiast spotted 56 species of birds in Nitte (Deemed to be University) campus

Nitte (Deemed to be University) have recorded 56 species of birds in their campus during Campus Bird Count-2020 (CBC-2020). CBC is a sub-event of Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). The GBBC is organized regularly since 2015 by Bird Count India in collaboration with eBird (The Cornell lab of Ornithology). The CBC is an effort to record bird diversity across campuses in India. The need for CBC felt when bird count has been done regularly only for reserve forests or bird sanctuaries however, campuses across country have forest patches which are largely undisturbed by general constructions and traffic. The CBC included campuses of educational institutes, research institutes, corporate companies, government institutes and Universities. This is approximately 250 plus campuses across the country registered for CBC-2020. Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) took an initiative and conducted the event at Nitte Paneer Campus and registered Nitte (Deemed to be University) as a contributor for CBC-2020. During four days bird count, as many as 56 bird species were observed at paneer campus of Nitte (Deemed to be University). This include the residential birds such as, Common myna, House crows, Cattle egret, Brahminy kite, Black kite, Common iora, Jungle babbler, Black drong, Rock pegion, Red whiskered bulbul, Asian koel, White throated kingfisher, are among commonly seen birds in the campus. Whereas, Red wattled lapwing, Rufous babbler, Little spider hunter, Common hawk-cuckoo, Plum headed parakeets, Rose ringed parakeets, Red, vented bulbul, Stork billed kingfisher, Common kingfisher are rear birds in campus. Besides, the birders have recorded some winter visitors as well as migratory birds such as, Purple sunbird, Long billed sunbird, Blyth’s reed warbler, Booted eagle, Ashy drongo, Gray wagtail and so on. During the four day event Faculties from NUCSER and sister institutes, PhD students, post-graduates and under graduates and nature enthusiast from different institutes have participated. During the event there were budding birders who did systematic observation of birds for first time. They were happy to know so many different types of birds around them and some of have decided to nurture bird watching as a hobby.