India has remarkable bird diversity, a long history of ornithology, and a strong community of birders. Thus, it is incredible that we do not have a dedicated, comprehensive and scholarly website on Indian birds. Birds of India website is an effort at developing such an online platform, providing a critical and freely available resource that has been sorely missing. It will draw upon the expertise of a large number of ornithologists and advanced birders, and contributions from amateur birders, naturalists and photographers, who together make up the Birds of India Consortium.
Birds of India website has three main objectives: (1) generate a library of carefully curated reference images of Indian birds, (2) consolidate available information on Indian birds and make it freely available on the website, and (3) encourage collection of new information on all aspects of Indian birds through rigorous natural history observations and ecological research. Like its sister websites, this website is heavily dependent on citizen scientists.
Birds of India website uses the powerful online framework developed by the Butterflies of India website. In the coming months and years, we will make this website mobile-friendly and develop a few apps that will help you contribute to this website through mobile devices. We will also think of ways to integrate and complement our efforts with other projects such as eBird. Just as critical as these developments, we want to significantly expand the Birds of India Consortium to include many more editors and reviewers who form the backbone of such a project. We invite more and more citizen scientists to contribute reference images and textual information that will make this website an indispensable reference on Indian birds. We hope that you will join us in developing this valuable resource, and strengthen citizen science in India.
-- Editors, Birds of India website,website, and the Birds of India Consortium. 1 November 2017.
