Published on SundayTimes on 04.06.2023 https://www.sundaytimes.lk/230604/news/step-in-to-your-home-garden-and-observe-the-birds-521712.html
Connect with nature by stepping into one’s own home gardens, is the message from the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL), as tomorrow (June 5) marks World Environment Day.
“Most home gardens in Sri Lanka still harbour a lot of biodiversity, but we do not pay enough attention,” says FOGSL president Prof Nihal Dayawansa, explaining the objectives of an initiative named Garden Birds and Biodiversity Watch 2023 (GBBW 2023).
At least a dozen birds can be observed in and around home gardens even in a congested city. “The focus of GBBW would be common birds, but even they can be threatened with time, so GBBW invites people to share their observations to initiate a citizen science programme,” Prof Dayawansa told the Sunday Times.W
In some instances, birds that once frequented a home garden may no longer be visiting that particular garden, and the population of those birds may have decreased. However, there could be other bird species that may be visiting that garden. Without proper observation and record keeping one cannot study such a trend. Scientists appear to focus more on studying birds that are endemic and threatened, with little emphasis being given to common birds, he pointed out.
Well known Ornithologist Prof Sarath Kotagama pointed out that citizen scientists and enthusiasts can extend a helping hand by collecting and classifying data, thus improving the scientific community’s research, especially on common birds. He cited successful examples of citizen science programmes in other countries such as the Christmas Bird Count that is ongoing for over 122 years and the Big Garden Birdwatch that has been conducted for 20 years,
Veteran environmental lawyer and ardent birdwatcher, Jagath Gunawardana says he has been observing his garden for more than 40 years continuously. Mr Gunawardana’s home is located close to congested Nugegoda, but he still gets many birds visiting his garden. “Birds that were common decades ago such as the Oriental White-eye, Iora are now missing from my garden, but new additions that were not here earlier such as the White-bellied Drongo, Greater Coucal, Oriental Magpie-Robin show increased visitations,” he said.
Even a number of migratory birds such as the Paradise Flycatcher, Forest Wagtail, and Brown Flycatcher are frequent visitors he said. It was during his observations that Mr Gunawardana realised that the Asian Koel (Koha) this time had a short peak period in its bird call at the start of April, then faded away for awhile, but started to peak again towards the end of the month and continued throughout May. Likewise, there are lots of interesting things to observe in a home garden, Mr Gunawardana emphasised.
To celebrate global citizen science month in April, FOGSL organised the Sri Lanka Citizen Science Forum in collaboration with the Young Zoologists’ Association of Sri Lanka (YZA), Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle, Young Biologists’ Association (YBA), and Base for Enthusiasts of Environment Science and Zoology (BEEZ) with the aim of popularising the concept in Sri Lanka.
Pointing out that youngsters today are glued to electronic devices, Prof Dayawansa emphasised that GBBW 2023 would be a great opportunity to get them more connected with nature by just stepping into their gardens.
Anyone interested in registering for Garden Birds and Biodiversity Watch 2023 please see FOGSL website http://fogsl.cmb.ac.lk.
Window to Nature 
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