Bird watchers count 260 species across 10 city college campuses

T'puram: Bird watchers counted around 260 species of birds during a backyard counting that was held from Friday to Monday in the city.The Great Backyard Bird Count 2026 was a four-day citizen science event held every Feb. Indian birders participated since the event went worldwide in 2013. The protocol was to watch birds every 15 minutes and upload their lists on the eBird app, a citizen science platform, from Friday to Monday, or at least on any of these days. Around 900 volunteers took part. The numbers will go up as the counting continues and the figures are being consolidated. In 2025, around 1,000 species of birds in 10 college campuses were counted in the state capital. This accounted for almost all species of birds found in the country. Around 10,000 volunteers participated in more than 24,000 locations, recording 1,086 species, nearly 78% of all bird species found in India. The outcomes of this great initiative are a Bird Register, a Photo Story and Poster of Bird Diversity, and a compiled document of Thiruvananthapuram district. Expert birders from WWF-India (World Wildlife Fund) joined students on each campus and provided technical support and guidance.The backyard count will complement the campus exercise held last year. Yellow billed babbler, white throated kingfisher, spot billed duck, pale billed flower decker, oriental darter, jungle owlet were a few birds spotted last year.