103 species of birds spotted on Mangalore varsity campus

As many as 103 species of birds have been spotted from various locations across Mangalore University campus, covering 300 acres of land.

Mangalore University has been participating in the campus bird count, a sub-event of 'Great backyard bird count' (GBBC), organised by Bird Count India for the past five years.

In this, Black Drongo, Black Kite, Brahminy Kite, Common Iora, Green Wabler, Purple-rumed Sunbird, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-cheeked Barbet, Jungle Babbler and Plum-headed parakeets were the common birds.

Also observed were House Crow with nest and nestlings, Indian Robin nest with eggs, Bronzed Drongo constructing the nest and Shikra mating and carrying nesting materials.

While Yellow-billed Babbler is rare in the campus, Ashy Drongo, Barn Swallow, Booted Eagle, Grey Wagtail, Indian Pitta etc were migratory birds, Grey-headed Bulbul (Near Threatened bird), Rufous Babbler and Grey-headed Bulbul were Western Ghats endemics and Brown Wood Owl, Barn Owl, Spotted Owlet, Nightjars (Savanna, Indian and Jerdon’s) and Sri Lanka Frogmouth were nocturnal birds that were spotted in the campus.

Blue-eared Kingfisher Grey-bellied Cuckoo which was very rare are new additions to the avian list of the campus, said Vivek Hasyagar from the Department of Applied Zoology, one of the coordinators of the event.

In the first year (2016), Mangalore University’s CBC recorded 77 species, in 2017, it recorded 95 species, in 2018, it recorded 110 species and in 2019, it recorded 107 species of birds.

However some of the common species like Rose ringed parakeets, Blue tailed bee-eater, Nilgiri Flowerpecker and Indian roller etc, sighted last year were not seen this year.

But with two new additions from this CBC, the checklist of Mangalore University Campus has been updated with a total of 141 species.

The event was coordinated by Vivek Hasyagar from the Department of Applied Zoology and Maxim Rodrigues from the Department of Marine Geology.

Survey trails were led by more than 60 students and research scholars from various Departments of Mangalore University including Applied Zoology, Biosciences, Microbiology, Botany, Physics, Chemistry and Material Science.

In addition, some enthusiastic participants from St Aloysius College had been involved in identifying the birds around the campus.

Wild or planned fire negatively affect the existing ecologically sensitive areas in and around the campus, especially in lateritic grassland. Because many insectivorous birds are dependent on these lateritic grassland habitats for their food and breeding ground for many ground-dwelling birds like Yellow wattled lapwing, Red wattled lapwing, Indian Robin and Barred buttonquails, conserving these habitats will be helpful in protecting these birds, said Vivek Hasyagar.