This January, let us come together to observe skimmers!

After the successful five years of the Indian Skimmer Count, Bombay Natural History Society in association with Bird Count India announces the 6th coordinated global Indian Skimmer Count. It will be conducted on 24th – 25th JANUARY 2026. Like the previous five years, participants are encouraged to visit any of the short-listed sites or other potential sites of their choice where Indian Skimmers are likely to be recorded on the count dates.

This is an initiative to fill the knowledge gap about the Indian Skimmer population. For participating please register yourself using the link below.

Registration Link: Click to Register

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INDIAN SKIMMER COUNT

1. Visit Sites: Visit any of the short-listed sites from here or any other sites of your choosing either on 24th January or 25th January, 2026 or both dates.
2. Count Skimmers: Count total number of Indian Skimmer at the selected site. For more details on how to count skimmers CLICK HERE.
3. Upload Counts: Upload your counts to the eBird mobile app. Please see this PDF that provides step-by-step procedure to upload your skimmer counts using the eBird Mobile app. Once uploaded, please share the checklist with the user ID Indian Skimmer or email ID skimmercount@bnhs.org (Refer to this article on how to share a checklist.)
4. Age Classification: If possible, undertake a careful count of Juvenile, Immature and Adults. See here for understanding age classification. To learn about how to edit and add additional information in your checklists, see here.
5. Add Media: To add photos and call recordings to your eBird checklist, use the "add media" link. See here to know about how to upload media in your checklist.
6. Alternative Submission: We encourage participants to contribute their observations/data through eBird platform. However, participants can also use Google form OR MS Word fill-in data-sheet to contribute their observations. Email the MS Word filled data-sheet to skimmercount@bnhs.org. For details on using datasheet CLICK HERE.

More details for conducting the count will be shared to the registered participants.

For any queries and clarifications, please contact:

Ms. Parveen Shaikh
Coordinator- Indian Skimmer count
Bombay Natural History Society,
Hornbill House, Opp. Lion Gate, S.B. Singh Road,
Mumbai-400 001, India.

Phone: +91-22-22821811 (Office)
Email: skimmercount@bnhs.org

Website: www.bnhs.org