The rest of the teams left at a more ‘civilized' time at daybreak. The JNU team, led by the indomitable Dr. Surya Prakash, popularly known as SP, had been doing ‘dry runs' and their hard work paid off as they greatly increased their tally. KB and Bharti decided to go ‘green' and only used public transport. Anand and Wingco where scheduled to cover the Dadri Wetlands but did a quick U turn when the news of the presence of two male Baikal Teals at Okhla, reached them, so Dadri remained mostly uncovered! Some of the birders who were supposed to cover Okhla thoroughly remained rooted in one place to try and see these amazing vagrant ducks that their count suffered a great deal! Other teams covered Basai, Palwal wetlands, Surajpur wetlands, Najafgarh Jheel, Asola, Siri Fort and the Yamuna Bio-diversity Park.
The youngest member to send in his count was Megh Mazumdar, a student of Class III in Mothers International School. Tall counts were tabulated by 7.30 pm by Tanaji Chakrabarti and approved by Bikram and announced later in the day
Several teams from other parts of the country decided to join in and hold their own Big Bird Day. Kolkata had several teams, all reporting to Sumit Sen. Narbir, Navjit and Prabhat Bhatti did a full days mad rush and notched up a very respectable score. Ram Pratap Singh held his own count on the Chambal and he too came up with great figures. Jailpaiguri had two teams and in far away Ita Nagar, Dilip Pandit went solo. Other teams included Manipal, Dehradun, Bandavgarh, Satpuras, Pong Dam area, Karkala, Harike and Birbhum.
Overseas teams were from California, Central New York State, Berlin and Mali.
A grand dinner was held at the WWF premises, where Shri Surat Singh Poonia was felicitated for his extra-ordinary work in Tal Chapper and a trophy presented to him. He spoke about the challenges he faced and how he over came them. Sharad Sridhar braving his recent injuries gave an illustrated talk on Tal Chapper. Bikram too was given a lifetime award for spreading awareness about birding.
The Really Difficult Bird Quiz" was held next and despite the quite complex questions, many people won prizes.
The results were then announced and big congratulations to the Bhindawas team, led by the fearless Suresh Sharma for notching up 180 birds. Well done indeed.
An excellent dinner followed and it was a happy lot that finally called it a day.
The tentative list is attached. In the next few days we will finalise all the lists after careful scrutiny and circulate the final totals.
2011 BIG BIRD DAY - TENTATIVE COUNTS AT END OF DAY
Last years total in () where applicable
Bhindawas:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 180 (150)
Basai:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 148 (161)
JNUÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 134 (106)
Palwal Wetlands                             113 (126)
Dadri:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 113 (133)
Najafgarh -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 105
Okhla Bird Park, Noida                    95 (123)
Yamuna Bio Diversity Park,            85 (67)
Surajpur wetlands WWFÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 80
'Green Birding Campaign'Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 79
Asola                                                 39
Sri Fort Park -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 32
Out-station teams:
Manipal, Karnataka -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 106
Bamako, Mali                                33
Chambal                                      150
Kolkata -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 137
Chandigarh                                 152
Jalpaiguri                                    114
Dehradun -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 50
Birbhum                                       64
California -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 75
Central New York State             13
Bandavgarh -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 33
Berlin -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 31
Itanagar -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 32
Satpuras -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 121
Nagrota Suriyan, Pong              95
Satpuras -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 121
Harike:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 80
Karkala                                        52
DELHI COUNT
2011 Tentative Count:Â 237
Some results from earlier years:
2010, 14th March -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 225 species
2009, 22nd February -Â Â Â 227 species
2008, 24th February -Â Â Â Â 203 species
2006, 12th November -Â 183 species
2006, 22nd February -Â Â Â 236 species
2005, 13th March -Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 271 species
2004, 22nd February -Â Â 236 species
Delhibird would like to thank all participants and team leaders for making BBD the success it was. Special thanks to Ravi Singh and his team from WWF, specially Mita Goswami and Parikshit Gautam for their help and support. Chandar Sharma for executing the trophies. Arshiya Sethi for compereing the evening so splendidly and Wingco for being such a good quartermaster-general.
