Birders rejoice in NCR as rare winter species spotted

Around 100 birders fanned out across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) with binoculars, notebooks, and cameras on Sunday for the Delhi Winter Bird Count 2024an exercise to record the number of winter bird species in the city.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Though the birds seen were fairly diverse birders spotted rare species such as the Eurasian griffon and the slender-billed gull experts said that this time, the density of migratory birds appeared to be much lower than usual, possibly because of the delayed onset of winter.

"We made some interesting sightings this time around, which included the Eurasian griffon at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, which is always rare for Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and has only been sighted a handful of times over the last decade. Another team at Chandu-Budhera [in Gurugram] sighted the slenderbilled gull, which is mainly a coastal bird and rarely seen inland. Other interesting sightings include the imperial eagle, also in Chandu-Budhera, and the white-tailed stonechat near the Yamuna," said birder Kanwar B Singh, one of the organisers of the count.