BBD Effort in Himachal Pradesh

Dear All,
Himachal Birds is proud to report that some committed officers of Himachal Pradesh carried out species count in various parts of the state on Feb 24. The area covered included Shimla, Solan, Sarahan, Sirmour, Kullu and Sundernagar. In Sundernagar members were divided into three teams, one towards Trambri Forest, second along the Jangam bagh nala side and third towards canal side. Each team was headed by forest officer  followed by 20 Range officer trainees and Forest Guard Trainees.(Team one incharge B S Rana, IFS CF Research, Team two incharge S K Guleria HPFS DFO Research and team three incharge C L Joshi HPFS DFO Training School.) In other places Mrs Neelam Thakur Shimla, Santosh Thakur Forest Guard Solan, Virender FGD Sarahan, Nirlep Retired Deputy Ranger Kullu and some  forest guards at Sirmour.This whole exercise was conducted without spending any govt money. The whole list was compiled at Sundernagar and overlapping were deleted. Following is the list:

List of Birds Spotted on 24^th Feb, 2013 in Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Kullu, Sarahan, Sundernagar and Sirmaur

1	Alexandrine Parakeet	74	Little Grebe
2	Bar - tailed Treecreeper	75	Long tailed Minivet
3	Brown Headed Barbet	76	Long- Tailed Shrike
4	Black - throated Tit	77	Magpie Robin
5	Black  & yellow Grosbeak	78	Mallard
6	Black Bulbul	79	Martin
7	Black chinned babbler	80	Mistle- thrush
8	Black Drongo	81	Orange- flanked bushrobin
9	Black Francolin	82	Oriental Magpie Robin
10	Black Lored Tit	83	Oriental White eye
11	Black Patridge	84	Pallied Harrier
12	Blossom headed parakeet	85	Pariyah kite
13	Blue - capped Redstart	86	Pea fowl
14	Blue - throated Barbet	87	Pied bush chat
15	Blue- fronted Redstart	88	Pied kingfisher
16	Blue Whistling Thrush	89	Pied wagtail
17	Brahmini starling	90	Pigmy wood pecker
18	Brown breasted  flycatcher	91	Northern Pintail
19	Brown dipper	92	Plum headed Parakeet
20	Bush chat	93	Plumbeous Water Red Start
21	Cheastnut thrush	94	Purple Sunbird
22	Coal Tit	95	Red Billed Blue Magpie
23	Common buzzard	96	Red Junglefowl
24	Common coot	97	Red rumped swallow
25	Common hoopoe	98	Red Tit
26	Common Myna	99	Red-vented Bulbul
27	Common pochard	100	Red- wattled Lapwing
28	Common sand piper	101	Rock  Bunting
29	Common Stonechat	102	Rock Pigeon
30	Common Tailorbird	103	Rose- ringed Parakeet
31	Common Teal	104	Rufous Babbler
32	Creasted Kingfisher	105	Rufous Sibia
33	Crimson Sun Bird	106	Rufous Treepie
34	Eurasian Jay	107	Rufous-vented Tit
35	Ferrugenous Pochard	108	Russet Sparrow
36	Fire BreastedFlower pecker	109	Rusty- cheeked Scimitar Babbler
37	Forest owlet	110	Scaly back Woodpecker
38	Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker	111	Scaly Bellied Woodpecker
39	Gadwall	112	Scarlet Minivet
40	Golden bush robin	113	Slaty- backed Flycatcher
41	Golden Eagle	114	Slaty- headed Parakeet
42	Great Barbet	115	Speckled Piculet
43	Great Tit	116	Spectacled Finch
44	Green- backed Tit	117	Spot winged Tit
45	Green Bee-eater	118	Spotted - Forktail
46	Greenish leaf warbler	119	Spotted Dove
47	Grey - hooded Warbler	120	Spotted Nutcracker
48	Grey Bushchat	121	spotted Owlet
49	Grey- headed Woodpecker	122	Streaked Laughing Thrush
50	Grey hooded warbler	123	Tailor bird
51	Grey Horn bill	124	Tawny pipit
52	Grey Lag Goose	125	Tufted duck
53	Grey Tree Pie	126	Variegated Laughingthrush
54	Grey Treepie	127	Verditer Fly catcher
55	Grey- Winged Blackbird	128	Wallcreeper
56	Himalayan Bulbul	129	Western crowned warbler
57	Himalayan Griffon Vulture	130	Whiskered Yuhina.
58	Himalayan whistling thrush	131	White - tailed Rubythroat
59	Himalayan Woodpecker	132	White breasted Kingfisher
60	House bunting	133	White breasted Waterhen
61	House sparrow	134	White Browed Fantail
62	Humes Warbler	135	White- capped Bunting
63	Indian Robin	136	White capped Water redstart
64	Indian scimitar babbler	137	White Cheeked Bulbul
65	Jungle Babbler	138	White hooded tit
66	Jungle crow	139	White Throated Fantail
67	Jungle Owlet	140	White throated Tit
68	Jungle Prinia	141	White Wagtail
69	Kalij Pheasant	142	Red whiskered bulbul
70	Kestrel	143	Yellow - breasted greenfinch
71	Large billed crow	144	Yellow Billed Blue magpie
72	Large billed leaf warbler	145	Yellow cheeked Tit
73	Large Cormorant	146	Yellow Wagtail

Hope such efforts will continue.

Happy Birding!

BBD effort from Manali by Rajive Das

Hi Folks!
News has come from Rajive Das an avid birder about his effort on BBD in Manali region. This is what Rajive has to say:

"I participated in the BBD from Manali region. It was quite a hectic but exciting adventure. Standing snow at Solang was over a meter and trekking was quite an ardous task. I covered till MSP-4 towards Dhundhi, Solang village, Palchan, Bahang, Old Manali, Manali, 15 mile, Patlikuhl, Kullu, Raison and Bhuntar. Spotted 61 species and was lucky to get snaps of most of them. "

Following are some images from Rajive:

Many thanks Rajive das for this report.

OLD KASAULI ROAD BIRD COUNT ON FEB. 24

On 24^th February, an effort was made to count bird species in several parts of the country. Big Bird Days and Bird Races were organised jointly by NGOs and Wildlife Wings of states and Union Territories.

It was nice of Chandigarh Birds to send a team to Kasauli for the count. The team comprised of Dr.Deepak Balasubramanian, Mr. Sidharth Nagar, Mr.Gaurav Shonik, Dr.Jyoti Yadav. They covered Old Kasauli Road upto Jangeshu from 06:00am to 06:00 pm and recorded 53 species as per the following table:

1.         Himalayan Griffon  2.         Grey Francolin  3.         Kalij Pheasant  4.         Indian Peafowl  5.         Red Junglefowl  6.         Rock Dove  7.         Alexandrine Parakeet  8.         Rose-ringed Parakeet  9.         Great Barbet  10.       Indian Grey-Hornbill  11.       Grey-headed Woodpecker  12.       Lesser Yellownape  13.       Barn Swallow  14.       Spangled Drongo  15.       Common Myna  16.       Red-billed Blue Magpie  17.       Rufous Treepie  18.       House Crow  19.       Large-billed Crow  20.       Black Bulbul  21.       Red-vented Bulbul  22.       Himalayan Bulbul  23.       Jungle Babbler  24.       Red-billed Leiothrix  25.       Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush  26.       Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher  27.       Rufous-bellied Niltava

28.       White-browed Fantail  29.       Grey-hooded Warbler  30.       Ashy Prinia  31.       Common Tailorbird  32.       Lesser Whitethroat  33.       Common Chiffchaff  34.       Hume’s Warbler  35.       Black Redstart  36.       Indian or Brown Rock-Chat  37.       Oriental Magpie-Robin  38.       White-capped Water-Redstart  39.       Indian Robin  40.       Plumbeous Water-Redstart  41.       Little Forktail  42.       Grey Bushchat  43.       Blue Whistling-Thrush  44.       Great Tit  45.       Black-lored Tit  46.       Bar-tailed Treecreeper  47.       Yellow Wagtail  48.       Oriental White-eye  49.       Purple Sunbird  50.       Crimson Sunbird  51.       Fire-breasted Flowerpecker  52.       House Sparrow  53.       Rock Bunting

Himachal Birds thanks Chandigarh Birds for this effort and requests Wildlife Wing of Himachal Pradesh to be proactive in organising such events.