
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COLLABORATIVE BIRD MONITORING - KOLKATA
A report by: PRIYAM CHATTOPADHYAY
INTRODUCTION
eBird is an online database of bird observation providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. The eBird India portal is managed by Bird Count India, a partnership of a large number of organizations and groups working to increase our collective understanding of the distribution, abundance, and population trends of Indian birds. The effectiveness of the data in eBird India Portal contributing to long-term trends on bird species and habitats is monitored by a large group of enthusiastic volunteers who pro-actively participate in the reviewing of the quality of these data, media and location information that finally make it to the curated data-set for scientific monitoring of bird species and their habitats in India. Bird Count India has been hosting several meets in the past few years to bring reviewers from across the country to a single place an discuss about future prospects of betterment and fine-tuning of gaps in the of the review process.
THE KOLKATA MEET
The National Conference on Collaborative Bird Monitoring – Kolkata is one of those in-person meeting initiatives fueled by Bird Count India but, for the very first time in the country, has been hosted completely by a non-profit organization: the Birdwatchers’ Society (BWS) at Newtown, Kolkata, for two days spanning 20 to 21 July 2024.
52 eBird editors and Regional Coordinators from the Bird Count India collective attended the physical event.


conference, representing 17 states and 1 union territory, constituted 75% of all states that currently have eBird editors.
The purpose of the meet was to create a social connection between the reviewers of the country, bridge gaps and train reviewers effectively to review and collectively improve eBird data quality through peer experience sharing and practical scenarios, bring birding perspectives in different parts of the country into one picture, and create plans for long-term monitoring and conservation efforts through different initiatives.
THE EVENT
The event was moderated by Bird Count India Collective and included an ice-breaking session between the newly introduced reviewers from different parts of the country, a session on the effective ways of reviewing data on eBird. Teams were formed to brainstorm on different
challenges that come up in the bird-watching landscape in different parts of the country and prepare presentations on them. The second
day of the conference involved the same teams brainstorming possible solutions for those listed challenges and were required to present them
before the participants. The members from the Bird Count India Collective then synthesized the most relevant and talked about issues from these presentations and welcomed volunteers to be part of different initiatives that would be carried out year-long and country-wide for the betterment and enablement of bird-watching across the country which in turn would serve for a better way of long-term monitoring of birds inthe country

CONCLUSION
As the reviewers from across the country off-boarded this exciting two day conference, they all looked forward to another such meet up and thanked the Bird Count India Collective and the Birdwatchers’ Society (BWS) for hosting such a warm celebration and interaction of bird-watchers, scientists, citizen-scientists and naturalists who are tirelessly volunteering to contribute to long-term conservation by ensuring quality of data and better engagement and participation from birdwatchers across the country.
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