For bird watchers in Pune

From dawn to dusk, they will have their eyes glued to the sky—looking out for all species of birds and keeping a record of them— engaging themselves in a race to beat other teams who are on a similar pursuit. This is the Pune bird race, which will be held on January 24 in the city, a unique competition wherein people passionate about bird watching, and not just ornithologists, but from different walks of life will come together to beat one another in the count of birds they have collected over the day.


Some of the rare bird species that have been recorded during the Pune Bird Races in the past include Isabelline Wheatear, Northern Goshawk, Sirkeer Malkoha, Mottled Wood owl, Eurasian Wryneck Common Buzzard, Bonelli’s Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle and Eurasian Thick Knee, among others. “With well over 250 bird species recorded over the years in and around this city, and with a rising band of enthusiastic birdwatchers and photographers, Pune sure is a ‘bird hotspot’,” says Patil.

For the first time ever, Cornell scientists have tracked 118 species of birds migrating throughout the Western Hemisphere. The analyses’ results were published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.