KERALA BIRD RACE - 2009 For wide circulation - including e-groups of student communities, academic institutions and corporate organizations.
Dear all, This is a call for registration for the teams participating in Kerala Bird Race 2009; the 3rd bird race to happen in Kerala. The event is sponsored by HSBC along with other IndiaBirdRaces team lead by naturalist Sunjoy Monga. Date: Nov 15th, the Sunday after the birthday of eminent ornithologist Dr.Salim Ali which falls on Nov 12th. Locations: Three bird Race assemblage simultaneously in the following cities - Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Whom to Contact (Site Coordinators): Thiruvananthapuram: A K Sivakumar (WWF-India) Phone: 94473 86978 Email [email protected] / [email protected] Kochi: Vishnupriyan Kartha (CNHS) Phone: 94464 37410 Email: [email protected] Kozhikode: Sathyan Mepayur (MNHS) Phone: 94472 04182 Email: [email protected] What is a Bird Race? Kerala Bird Race is a dawn to dusk event where teams of bird-watchers will spend the entire day birding in and around each city. The participants will try to 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 will help stimulate enormous interest in bird-watching as a highly popular hobby. The event will give 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 city has two or three 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 or 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 feather-folk, and for nature. Last year, we had more than 300 bird-watchers on the field on a single day, many of them fresh into the hobby. A few of the teams came up with whooping tally of 140 odd species on a single day. Birdwatchers from other states are encouraged to take it as a chance to do some great birding in Kerala. We regularly have participants from Kanyakumari district joining us at Thiruvananthapuram. The Grand Plan Play the race hard - try to see as many species as you can from dawn to dusk before assembling to your chosen site for the evening dinner. Play the race to enjoy and share – each of you can treat it as an opportunity to make one another person interested in birds and share the joy. Birdwatchers across Kerala (& outside) shall participate in this event - choose a convenient city where you can assemble for the evening of Nov 15th and contact the right coordinator. There are no pre-determined routes - you can watch birds in multiple locations all within 100km radius of each of the site to see as many species as you can. Sites could be outside the district or even state. You are free to make your own team. Each team can be 3 or 4 members; but there should be one good birdwatcher with every team who can identify most of the species around the city. You should name your team with a bird's name - we had several interesting names last time like "Falcons", "Cuckoos", "Flycatchers" etc. Also, make sure you drop in your phone numbers with the coordinators. If you are a beginner bird-watcher and is not able to find a team, you still can contact the coordinators and they will help you out for finding you a team with a good bird-watcher in it. This event has many nature conservation organisations from Kerala in the lead - Warblers & Waders, WWF-Kerala, Kottayam Nature Society, Malabar Nature History Society, Nature Education Society, Thrissur ,Kottayam Nature Society, Thanal and several others. HSBC is our sponsor. More rules of the game can be found in http://www.indiabirdraces.com/rules.htm Needless to say, participation is free. Rush in your team nominations to the individual coordinators depending on the site of your choice. For any clarifications or help - either contact your respective coordinator or feel free to contact us. A press release shall happen very soon. In earnest anticipation of a Grand Celebration with Birds best rgds Praveen.J & Nameer.P.O. For the Kerala Bird Race Team Praveen: Phone: (0)94480 39906 Email: [email protected] Nameer: Phone: 94465 73106 Email: [email protected] -- ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.prinson.in <For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
