201 species of Himalayan birds spotted in Uttarakhand: NGO

A total of 201 species of Himalayan birds, including the very rare red crossbill, were spotted in Uttarakhand by a group of 20 bird-watchers, who took part in the 'Great Backyard Bird Count 2022', an NGO said here.

"The bird count was conducted at Munsiyari, Dehradun, Mukteswar (Nainital) and Nailbag (Tihri Garhwal) over the last three weeks," Ramnarayan Kalyanaraman, overall coordinator and founder of India's Nature NGO, said.

The bird count exercise was conducted by the NGO.

Besides the red crossbill, the bird-watchers also spotted monal, the state bird of Uttarakhand, wall creeper, spotted nutcracker, streak-breasted scimitar-babbler, bearded vulture, river lapwing and steppe eagle.

"Our group has also counted groups of altitudinal migrant birds and trans-continental migrants, along with a host of breeding resident birds of the Himalayan region," Kalyanaraman said.

The annual bird count is carried out by the group to raise awareness among local people about the birds and to promote ethical birding by rural nature guides, he said.

"We could count extremely rare birds in the IUCN list red crossbill and black-throated parrotbill, besides near-threatened birds like the cinereous vulture, Himalayan vulture, painted stork, Alexandrine parakeet and the vulnerable common pochard," Kalyanaraman added.

The bird count was supported by Bird Count India, eBird India and eBird Global, he said.