Mumbai Bird Race 2023 – Annual Bird Watching Event

“A successful 2023 event of Mumbai Bird Race experience was memorable. This annual event is scheduled almost every February for those bird lovers & enthusiasts to give personal attention to nature & varieties of local & migratory birds.

Targets to get the maximum species found on the race day in and around Mumbai’s famous bird watching locations. Let’s check how to register and detailed schedules of the upcoming bird race 2024..”

Important Note: Every year bird race of Mumbai takes place in February. Rules & Regulations may change from year to year and so requested to contact authorities for same.

Updates February 2022: As per the news, Year 2022 the bird race was on 20th February and the results (Total Species Count) were highest in the last 7 years. About 350 people participated and went to various sights around Mumbai and MMR (Alibaug, Manor, kalwa, Dombivli & Kalyan, Thane, up to locations like Matheran).

A total of 6o teams of birders found 250 species of birds. High Fliers like Vultures were missing and low numbers of Larks, and Woodpeckers were noticed.

CONNECT : Wiki for upcoming birding event registration for year 2023-2024.

Bird Race Event in Mumbai

Mumbai Bird Race 2019, Event Dates, Timings and Address

Bird Race 2019 : It’s on 10th February 2019, Registration Process etc should be referred here. Previous year the registration and participation were made easier by introducing Mobile App with the name ‘eBird by Cornell Lab’ which is available at Google play store.

So, Download the App and enjoy birding.

Like those famous Marathon events held annually, some nature activists like ‘Sunjoy Monga’, ‘Ravi Vaidyanathan’ and ‘Pravin Subramanian’ and the crew started the annual bird race as a special event that will attract all the bird photographers, bird watchers, and lovers of the city.

One can join this event with simple per-registration and help to understand city birds and their various species, old and new in Mumbai. This year’s event was scheduled on 26th February 2012 and was the successful 8th annual race day since it started in 2005.

Since then about 200 to 300 different species of birds are found every year, and those beautiful-looking birds’ hunt was then extended to other 14 cities in India as of now.

No particular per-training or any type of certification is required to join this race, you can be a professional or just a weekend bird lover, hobby, expert, or just an enthusiast citizen who wants to spend time watching birds and count species.
Get ready for moments captured in your digital camera, or watching through those binoculars in dense forests and bird sanctuaries of Mumbai like Maharashtra Nature Park, National Park, Botanical Garden of Colaba and much other bird watching locations, You are welcomed at any age.
Bird Race Schedules and Registrations

Every year since 2005, the Mumbai bird race is announced online and possibly in some newspapers which detail the rules and registration options. For 2012, it was held in February. We will be happy if organizers of this event can contact us for upcoming race schedules, with details of timings and online and offline registration options as currently, we do not have their online existence details.

One needs to have a team of 4 to 5 to get registered. Once you receive the registration confirmation, you are liable to participate in the race. If you don’t have a team of at least 4 people in the group, you can contact others who are willing to join the bird-watching race in Mumbai, if you do not find any, then just register as an individual and get guidance from organizers.

Bird Race Rules Regulations (Previous Years)

1. You must have a team of 4 or more in a single group out of which at least 1 member should be a birder (who has knowledge about various species and know how and where one can find birds etc) and is eligible as leader captain of the group.
2. Every group in the bird race should have a unique name, and the name should/can be of any bird.
3. You can do your bird hunt activity within the range of 60 km in and around Mumbai city.
4. More than one team can be in one single location.
5. You have to log all the birds in the logbook and submit it on or before 6:00 PM which is the end time of capturing and watching birds.
6. You cannot interact or discuss your bird race progress with other team members or you will be disqualified from the race.
7. After 6:00 logbooks will be seen and the highest number of unique bird species finder teams will be rewarded with a prize.
8. You must carry all the belonging like binoculars, Cap, Log Book, etc when on a trek for bird watching.
9. You must be a registered member to start any of these activities with written permission as in the terms.

Note: Please refer to the official website for race detailed rules and regulations, and requirements-related updated information.

Last Few Previous Years Bird Race

This year the enthusiasts will race to capture the best of the old and new birds of Mumbai, with rules laid down as groups of 4 only.

Year 2015

The year 2015 brought more enthusiasts to the field with varieties of cameras and those zooming lenses for those beautiful flying creatures in Mumbai. Although the sad side experienced by more than 65 teams was that the regular 6 to 8 species of those birds seen each year in the race were totally missing for the click capture and shoot action as the reason is that the wetlands of Sewri, Murbad, Vashi Bridge and places like SGNP and karnala century is getting deteriorated in quality day by day. The Mumbai Bird of this year’s race was located at Murbad water/mud flat which was the dark open feathered snake bird originally called ‘Oriental Darter’. Every year on average about 100 to 125 species of birds are seen alone at 2 major locations which are Borivali National Park and Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

Lost and Found Bird Species in race 2015

LOST SPECIES: As said unlike every year this year also showed some decline in species among which are Quail, White Stork, Oystercatcher, Black Redstart, Ruddy Turnstone, Ashy Woodswallow, Larks and Harriers (Rarely Seen at a location of two in the city).
NEW SPECIES FOUND: The excitement starts when new species which are rarely seen at these locations during bird races are sighted suddenly. Among others were the Oriental Darter as said the Bird of the year, a couple of Woodpeckers species, the Spotted Owl, Red Spurfowl, Nakta bird, Sea-eagle in white, Blue capped rock thrush, Caspian Tern, and the Black Eagle.

You might also like to know about Flamingo watching places in Mumbai and the newly declared flamingo century at thane creek.

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