Fewer sightings, locales mark Bird Day this year

A total of 234 species of birds were spotted across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) as part of this year's Big Bird Day (BBD) count on February 4, the organisers said on Saturday as they released the official results, which showed at least 15 rare species to have been sighted.

- Aheli Das

At 253, last year's count was higher than this year's. The highest tally --- of 268 bird species --was recorded in 2017.

"A total of 40 locations were covered this year. There was an overall drop in bird density.

However, there was no dearth in diversity," said Nikhil Devasar, one of the organisers of the annual bird count, which is organised in February every year. Last year, birders covered 97 locations during the event.

Devasar added, "One of the major reasons for the lower density of migratory birds can be attributed to climate change.