Shillong, Feb 10: As the global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) returns between February 13 to 16, 2026, campuses across India are gearing up for the Campus Bird Count, a sister event of GBBC, unique to India organised by Bird Count India in collaboration with WWF India and Foundation for Ecological Security (FES).
Building on last year’s remarkable engagement, when more than 270 campuses uploaded over 8,000 bird lists, campus communities nationwide are once again taking the lead in documenting birds.
From engineering colleges in Pune to architecture programmes in Kerala, from schools in Chhattisgarh to garden campuses in Delhi, from universities in Mizoram to sprawling campuses in Gujarat, thousands of students, faculty, and staff are monitoring birds in green spaces. Some of these are informal patches—courtyards, heritage groves, and tree-lined pathways—that have emerged as vital habitats beyond protected areas, often the last strongholds of biodiversity in India’s increasingly built-up cities and towns.
“Taking part in this event inspired me and my fellow students to think about birds, notice them, and even rescue injured ones. It also showed us how documenting the birds on eBird can convert our interest into important information that helps the birdwatching community and scientists in India.”- Says Siddharth Singh Bawa, a student from Class 11 from The Doon School, Dehradun.
Last year, bird and nature enthusiasts from every state and Union territory participated in the GBBC, with more than 10,000 people from all age groups and all walks of life engaged in watching and appreciating birds.
GBBC is an annual global event that engages bird enthusiasts of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations. The global GBBC is organised by Cornell University and the Audubon Society in the USA. In India, it is coordinated by Bird Count India, a consortium of 70-plus birding, nature and conservation organisations.
Those interested are encouraged to watch birds anywhere on their campus – like at courtyards, gardens, pathways or near water bodies – for at least 15 minutes during February 13-16, 2026. Identify all birds seen or heard and share your sightings using the eBird App. GBBC state coordinators can be round through https://birdcount.in/counts/gbbc/ and local campus events through https://birdcount.in/counts/campus-bird-count/
Meanwhile, launching on February 12 is ‘Into the World of Birds’, a multimedia online course jointly developed by Early Bird, Roundglass Sustain and Bird Count India. It is a free self-paced course that aims to transform nature enthusiasts into birdwatchers.
Moving beyond basic identification, through a blend of immersive videos, interactive quizzes and field-based assignments, the course offers a deep dive into bird evolution, behaviour, ecology and citizen science, enabling learners of ages 14 and above to decode the lives of their feathered neighbours.
