Why in News?

• GBBC India is the Indian implementation of the global Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs for 4 days every February.
• India was among 190 countries that participated in the GBBC 2023, an annual event that brings bird enthusiasts, students and nature enthusiasts together for counting birds they see around the places where they live, work or study.
• GBBC was first launched in 1998 in the US.
• The data contributed by citizen scientists are used by scientists and conservationists to better understand and protect bird species.
• Indian birders have participated in the GBBC since the event went worldwide in 2013.
• GBBC India is coordinated by the Bird Count India collective (BCI), a coming-together of a number of groups and organisations that are interested in birds, nature and conservation.

Highlights of the Count:

• West Bengal reported the highest number of species of birds, followed by Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh during the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) 2023 across 35 States and Union Territories.
• While West Bengal reported 489 species, Uttarakhand recorded 426, Arunachal Pradesh 407, Assam 397 and Karnataka 371 species.
• Tamil Nadu and Kerala took the eighth and ninth spots with 349 and 325 species, respectively.
• Kerala, on the other hand, recorded the highest number of checklists of birds by uploading 9,768 lists of birds.
• Maharashtra with 7,414 lists and Tamil Nadu with 6,098 were placed second and third, respectively.
• Pune birders uploaded more than 5,900 lists, the most among urban centres.
• As per the preliminary report released by the BCI, more than 46,000 checklists and a total of 1,067 avian species were uploaded on e-Bird, an online platform to record bird observations.
• A remarkable increase in participation across the country helped India upload the second-highest number of checklists after the United States and the third-highest species of any country.