Rahul Rohitashwa, D.N. Chaudhary & Sumit Kumar Sum

Bird migration and migratory birds have been subjects of deep research. Where do these birds come from and after some time where do they disappear? The number, variety, diversity and breeding aspects of these birds are some other intriguing factors which have puzzled humans.

Every year millions of water birds or more specifically water dependent birds from the far Arctic, Siberia, Northern Africa and European regions move or migrate from their place of origin due to the short supply of adequate food, proper roosting and nesting and also to escape the harsh and frigid winter season, travelling thousands and thousands of miles to reach South-East Asia including India where the climate is favourable and conducive for their survival.

The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) is part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC) monitoring programme conducted every year in many countries of Asia. It runs parallel with other regional programmes of the International Waterbird Census (IWC) in Africa, Europe, West Asia, the Neotropics and the Caribbean.

As of January 2021, more than 6,100 sites of 27 countries had been covered with the active participation of thousands of volunteers. Apart from census of water birds this citizen-science programme also supports the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide. The Census is done yearly between the months of January and February and is a citizen science programme, wherein volunteers across Asia and Australasia visit wetlands in their country and count waterbirds. In India, every year in the month of January and February,the Asian Waterbird Census is jointly coordinated by the Wetland International and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)…Read more on NOPR