The IndiaBirdRaces - Supported by HSBC

The Mumbai BirdRace and now, IndiaBirdRaces, have been inspired by the Hongkong BirdRace, with slight modifications, keeping the logistics of travel and other factors into consideration. All HSBC the IndiaBirdRaces will be dawn to dusk events where teams of bird-watchers will spend the entire day birding in and around every metropolitan region (each with a geographical limit to its outer boundaries). The participants will try and record as many species of birds as possible, learn about the finer points of bird-watching from the experts & the experienced, and then later in the evening, all teams will meet at a suitable venue over dinner and an interactive tête-à-tête.

While there are strict rules there is a fun element to this exercise, which has helped stimulate enormous interest in bird-watching as a highly popular hobby. The event has given us a good idea of the nature of this region’s birdlife and helped build up support for environment and nature conservation.

Of course, there is also the team spirit and participation that comes into focus here. To ensure that the results are as infallible and in principle as correct as possible, each BirdRace has one or two special adjudicators who analyze the results and announce the winners at a special programme held in the evening. The adjudicators are either highly experienced bird-watchers or much-respected senior naturalists/conservationists. Each Team gets an opportunity to interact with the others and recount their day’s experiences. All in all, it is a great end to a day well spent with and for the featherfolk, and for nature.