The bird race is here, are you ready?

Just drop your PDAs,  get ready with your cameras. For, the bird race is about to begin. Mumbaikars can look forward to plenty of bird-watching and lots of surprises over the quiet weekend . DNA brings you a primer on what promises to be a colourful event

MUMBAI: This Sunday, grab your binoculars and get ready for bird-watching as the city hosts the fourth edition of the Mumbai Bird Race, an annual dawn-to-dusk event inspired by a similar one held in Hong Kong.

The unique thing about the race, however, is that none of the birds would be racing each other. Instead, participants will be split into groups of four (including one bird expert or bird spotter) and head to different spots in and around the city to spot as many species of birds as they can from a list of 350 local birds. The prizes for the winners include a variety of bird-watching and camping gear such as rucksacks, sleeping bags, and field guides.

The spotting will involve rare species of birds like the oyster catcher, the red-necked phalarope, the red-necked falcon, the migratory isabelliane wheatear, and vultures. Also spotted would be common species such as the coppersmith barbets, the oriole, the babbler, the tailor bird and the egret.

Naturalist Sunjoy Monga, who has been organising the event since 2005, is overjoyed with the response to the event this year. “We have more than 300 participants with youngsters from the  age of six to octogenarian bird enthusiasts, all vying for top place,” he says. The race limits are from Palghar and Kelwe beaches in the north to Murud Janjira and Matheran in the East. “Participants are free to go wherever they want and record their sightings, the only condition being that the area should fall within a 100km radius of Mumbai,” says Monga.

Monga feels that the event not only promises a lot of action, but will also be a learning experience. “Uran, Vashi’s Palm Beach Road, Vasai’s Tungareshwar plateau, and the Karnala Bird Sanctuary are hot spots,” he says.

The event is part of a series of similar races that have taken place in ten cities across the country, all sponsored by HSBC. So what makes a corporate institution venture into something this unusual?

“The bird race is part of several key projects that we support in relation to conservation of the environment,” says Malini Thadani, head of group communications and sustainability at HSBC.

“Participants will fan across the city and count the birds, so it will be a rich consensus or record of
the diversity of the birds that can be seen in an urban environment.” 

By the looks of it, amateurs and seasoned spotters are in for some colourful action this weekend. 

t_ismat@dnaindia.net