n the dead of night on May 13, 2022, birder Sundar Muruganandan heard the Indian nightjar.

The call, a distinctive ‘chonk, chonk’, was

music to his ears. He was waiting to hear the bird, among other nocturnal birds such as the owl, at a forest bunglow on the outskirts of
Coimbatore, and document it on the eBird mobile application. He, along with his team of three, was participating in birding as part of
Endemic Bird Day. “We ranked first in Tamil Nadu for recording 140 species over a single day, and were among the top 10 in India,”
recalls the 61-year-old entrepreneur.

Indian peafowl | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

In India, May 13 is observed as Endemic Bird Day by Bird Count of India, and the world over, it is the Global Big Day in which people
document as many bird species as they can over a period of 24 hours. In its ninth edition currently, the event will see birders in India
document endemic birds — those that are local to a particular geographical location — on the eBird platform.
Indian Blue Robin | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

“This exercise gives a snapshot of what species of birds can be seen in one day,” says P Jeganathan, a birder with the Tamil Birders
Network, based in Tiruppur. “Birders set out with a plan; for instance, if they are in the Nilgiris, they know they will spot the black and
orange flycatcher or the Nilgiri laughing thrush,” he says.