Report of Heronry Count 2021 Thiruvananthapuram district

Heronry Count in Thiruvananthapuram is an annual event in the CapitalCity being conducted since the past many years by WWF-India with theparticipation of committed volunteers. Heronries are nesting or breeding coloniesof bird species such as Herons, Egrets, Cormorants and Darters, which areassociated with wetlands. In Thiruvananthapuram, most of these heronries areseen in areas with high density of human population.

In 2021, considering the Covid-19 regulations and restrictions that prevailed in the district and the State as a whole, care was taken to follow all official protocols while conducting the Heronry Count. We assigned teams and asked themto complete the count between the 1st to 31st July 2021. Earlier, the survey wasdone on a single day, where teams were assigned to each location/ heronry.Thiruvananthapuram City supports many heronry sites, and this indicates a goodbalance between birdlife and urban ecosystem. Long term monitoring of heronsand heronries are vital for the understanding of changes in local wildlife habitats,breeding ecology of the bird and the impacts of urbanization on these birdpopulations. The coordinated effort resulted in recording around 233 nestsbelonging to 5 different species of waterbirds. Twelve volunteers including expertsparticipated in the event.