A total of 125 species, including rare migratory birds, were sighted during the third edition of Pongal Bird Count, being held here from January 15 to 18.
The bird count is held across the State to create an awareness among the people to conserve the birds, which play a major role in protecting the crops from harmful insects.
On the first day of the count, S.V. Ganeshwar, bird watcher and a member Tamil Nadu Science Forum, and Murugesh Nateshan, photographer, recorded rare migratory birds like Indian Blue Robin, Verditer Flycatcher, Blue-capped Rock Thrush, and Pied Thrush in Yercaud.
The sighting of a pair of resident Yellow-throated Bulbuls surprised the birders as the species is classified as vulnerable by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
V. Ramamoorthy, district secretary of the forum, initiated a new birding group called United Salem for Bird Life (USBL) to have a common platform for bird watchers in the district. The group will mainly focus on bird listing and monitoring by entering the sightings in eBird ( www.ebird.org ).
On Monday, a Bird Walk was conducted by the new group at Kannankurichi Lake in which 27 participated. The youngest bird watcher was aged six, and the oldest 70.
They spotted rare birds like Baillon’s Crake, Yellow Bittern, Ruddy-breasted Crake and for the first time a male Eurasian Kestrel was also found at the lake.
Another event was conducted at Maramangalathupatti in Steel Plant area by T. Jayamurugan in which a 55 students, and their parents participated.
Mr. Ganeshwar said that the main goal of bird counts was to understand them better.
Public participation in bird watching, and listing were very essential, he said.
“We can cover the entire district to map the distribution, abundance, and seasonality of the birds of Salem,” he added.
