MANGALURU: As many as 95 species of winged beauties were sighted at Mangalore University , Konaje during Campus Bird Count , a sub-event of the larger 'Great Backyard Bird Count' (GBBC).This four days event concluded on February 20, with recording total of 95 species of birds from various locations across the campus. Both diurnal and nocturnal birds were recorded during the bird Count.Few rare birds recorded during this event includes, Srilanka frogmouth, Savanna nightjar, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Tickell's blue flycatcher, Woolly necked stork, Small minivets and Brown-capped Pygmy woodpecker.The bird count also recorded seven migratory species of birds such as Indian Roller, (state bird of Karnataka), Eurasian kestrel, Brown shrike, Booted eagle , Blue-tailed bee-eater, Ashy drongo and Blyth's reed warbler. This count also revealed the presence of few endemic species such as Red spurfowls, white-cheeked barbet, Malabar whistling thrush , Grey-headed bulbul, Rufous babbler and Nilgiri flower-pecker.Mangalore University has been participating in this event for the second consecutive year. First time in February 2016, bird lovers recoded 77 species of birds. The Campus Bird Count team was led by Vineeth Kumar K, research scholar, Department of Applied Zoology along with Prashantha Krishna MC (Alumni of Department of Chemistry at MU), Jagdish Paithanker (research scholar), Radhakrishna Upadhyaya K (M.Sc. student) and Akhila MP (M.Sc. student) of Department of Applied Zoology. There were over 50 participants including students and research scholars from Various Post Graduate departments of Mangalore University (Applied Zoology, Biosciences, Physics, Chemistry, Material Science), along with few staff from Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University and P A College of Engineering, students from UG and PG department of St Aloysius College, Mangaluru and few bird-watchers and enthusiasts from the Coastal Karnataka birdwatchers Network.Vineeth Kumar said this is a collaborative effort to document the bird-life in campuses across India, to get a fair idea about the distribution of bird species in various campuses along with the data on migratory birds and their pattern of migration. This year 292 Campuses across India have registered for the Campus Bird Count, from Karnataka total 27 campuses participated.He added that the bird species have increased this year compared to the last, due to involvement of more bird-watchers and increased explorations across the campus area. The bird-watchers at the campus are hoping for few more additions to the list in the coming years.

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