Bird Atlas summer survey flagged off at Lodhi Garden

The state forest and wildlife department on Sunday flagged-off the summer survey of the Delhi Bird Atlas at Lodhi Garden.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok and Leena Dhankhar

NEW DELHI: The month-long survey will formally commence next week and will continue till early June.

The flagging off took place among 100 birdwatchers, volunteers, students, wildlife experts, and conservationists. The survey, officials said, will see over 100 teams across the Capital and aims to provide data on the habitat and locations where bird species are recorded in Delhi. A comprehensive book, based on the survey, is expected to be prepared by the forest department. The Bird Atlas will likely be released by December, officials said.

The inauguration was honored by Shyam Sunder Kandpal, Delhi's chief wildlife warden and Dr Dipankar Ghose, senior director, biodiversity conservation of World Wide Fund-India.

The first census for the Bird Atlas—the winter survey—was carried out between January 1 and February's first week and revealed 200 different bird species in the Capital. The Bird Atlas is prepared with the help of bird-ers from Bird Count India, Delhi Bird Foundation and organizations and agencies such as WWF-India, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Asian Adventures and Wildlife SOS among others.

Forest officials said training sessions were conducted throughout April to prepare volunteers and now teams have been formed across Delhi for the coverage.