An Emphatic culmination for the Kerala Bird Atlas surveys

An Emphatic culmination for the Kerala Bird Atlas surveys

The five-year, 600-day event, the field surveys of Kerala Bird Atlas (https://birdcount.in/kerala-bird-atlas/), is now officially closed. What we have achieved is, arguably, the largest citizen science bird survey in the Asian continent, systematically sampling 10% of an Indian state with an area of 38,863 sq.km., for two seasons, with a birding force of more than 1,000 birdwatchers, at 4,384 locations (sub-cells). When the Kerala Bird Fraternity met in 2015 and decided to start a bird atlas, none of us knew what kind of commitment each one of us were getting into – personally, professionally, physically, and mentally. Many continued from start to finish, others joined in, performed a cameo, and passed on. While we covered more than 95% of the locations for the dry season, multiple floods, and now COVID, weathered our response during the wet season, as we battled past the 80% mark on the last day of the atlas. While we work towards generating new insights and knowledge from the data, we can be proud that our efforts will forever shine as a glorious jewel in the crown of Indian ornithology. A big, big salute to all the citizen scientists who made this possible.


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