State Of India’s Birds Report 2020 – Free PDF Download

Question

• The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is run by which organisation?

• The report was released on 17 February 2020 at the 13th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

This is the first comprehensive assessment of

1. the distribution range,
2. trends in abundance, and
3. conservation status

• for most of the bird species that regularly occur in India.

Organisations

1. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
2. Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)
3. Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
4. National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
5. National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS-TIFR)
6. Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF)
7. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON)
8. Wetlands International South Asia (WI-SA)
9. Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
10. World Wide Fund for Nature India (WWF-India).

• It is not a government report, but a consortium of both government and non-government organisations.
• Government institutions – Wildlife Institute of India and Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History.
• Non-government organisations – Bombay Natural History Society and Nature Conservation Foundation.

15,500 birdwatchers

Why is a bird survey relevant?

• With their ubiquity and ecological importance, birds are excellent indicators of the state of our natural world and are potent cultural symbols of nature.
• Birds play vital roles in the health of ecosystems through their actions as pollinators, seed dispersers, predators, scavengers, and as prey for other species.
• Worldwide, common and widespread species are declining; but in India, lack of information has meant that conservation attention has been focussed on only a few species (usually large, charismatic and threatened).
• This national-level assessment of birds is a significant step forward in the monitoring and conservation of India’s rich and varied biodiversity.

This assessment is based on three indices. Two are indices of change in abundance:

1. Long-term Trend (i.e. over 25+ years)
2. Current Annual Trend (i.e. over the past 5 years)
3. Distribution Range Size

Long-term trends

• Of the 261 species for which Long-term trends could be determined, 52% have declined since the year 2000,  with 22% declining strongly.
• In all, 43% of species showed a long-term trend that was stable and 5% showed an increasing trend.

 Current annual trends

• Current annual trends could be estimated for 146 species
• Of these, nearly 80% are declining, with almost 50% declining strongly.
• Just over 6% are stable and 14% increasing.

Range size

• 46% species have Moderate range sizes.
• 33% have Large or Very Large range sizes
• 21% have Restricted or Very Restricted range sizes

Conservation Concern status

• This report places Indian species into Low, Moderate and High categories of Conservation Concern for India.
• A large number of species that are thought to be common and widespread find themselves as of High Conservation Concern.

The Bad news

• Raptors, migratory shorebirds, habitat specialists and endemics to the Western Ghats have declined considerably
• Common species like Small Minivet, Common Greenshank and Oriental Skylark have declined
• Birds that eat invertebrates have declined as a group

The Good news

• 126 species have stable or increasing trends over the last 25+ years
• The species that have shown an increase in numbers include Rosy Starling, Feral Pigeon, Glossy Ibis, Plain Prinia and the Ashy Prinia
• Species like House Sparrow and Indian Peafowl, are doing well
• Some globally Near Threatened species, including Black-headed Ibis and Oriental Darter, have stable or increasing populations and therefore are classified as of Low Conservation Concern for India

Isn’t  the Common House sparrow declining?

• Despite the widespread notion that the House Sparrow is declining in India, the analysis presented in this report suggests that the species has been fairly stable overall during the past 25+ years.
• Data from the six largest metro cities (Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai) do indicate a gradual decline in their abundance in urban centres.
• However, the extremely large range of the species across the country, and the lack of evidence for either long-term or current countrywide decline results in it being classified as of Low Conservation Concern.

Reasons for the supected decline –

1. decreasing insect populations (a key part of the diet of sparrow chicks)
2. paucity of suitable nesting sites.

• The popular theory that radiation from mobile phone towers is a factor is not supported by current evidence.

Reasons behind the Avian decline

• Urbanisation is the biggest culprit
• Hunting
• Habitat loss
• Collision with electricity lines

Pet Trade

• Some species popular in the bird trade, such as the Green Munia, are at “dangerously low” numbers, the report says.

• India’s national bird, the Indian Peafowl, has increased dramatically over the past decades.

What needs to be done?

• The overall decline in species demands research into the causes, and action to protect the high concern species.
• Update global and national priorities using conservation assessments
• Fund conservation efforts on High Concern species and habitats where species have declined
• Support monitoring efforts by citizen scientists and researchers

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