The census was conducted in two phases, covering North Goa on January 18 and South Goa on January 25, and the aim of the AGWC-2015 was to conduct a census of wetland birds at all wetlands of major importance in the State.
In all, 144 species of birds were reported from the wetlands and 9,922 individual birds were counted. Sixteen wetlands in North Goa district and seven in South Goa district were covered during the census.
Teams comprising expert birders and volunteers covered important wetlands in the two districts, conducting total bird counts. This exercise resulted in a total of 36 birders making 22 hours of observations throughout the State (15.5 hours in North Goa and 6.5 hours in South Goa).
All the data generated during the census has been uploaded on eBird, an international bird data repository platform, and is available for wider community .
During the census, nine threatened species (4 vulnerable and 5 near threatened) of birds have been reported. The Carambolim-Dhado Wetland complex was found to have good species diversity with the team lead by Pronoy Baidya reporting 85 species, while the Navelim Wetland in Bicholim taluka was found to hold a good population of birds, with the team led by Harshada Gauns recording 2238 individual birds.
The Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii) and Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) were found to be the most common.
