Hyderabad Birding Pals (HBP) has created a special pocket guide called ‘Birds of Telangana’. This guide is meant to help students in government schools and junior colleges understand the importance of Telangana’s native birds, which are slowly disappearing. The guide is designed for students from Class VI to Intermediate. It showcases the variety of birds found in the state and aims to raise awareness about their conservation.
The pocket guide was recently released and focuses on educating students about bird conservation and the need to protect natural habitats. It emphasizes reducing deforestation and increasing green cover to help protect Telangana’s birds and their ecosystems. The guide provides information on how to identify different birds, where to watch them, and their conservation status. It features images of 252 bird species, including the Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Shelduck, and Tufted Duck, out of the 443 species recorded in Telangana so far.
Sriram Reddy, a core committee member of HBP, shared more details about the guide. He explained that the goal is to teach students about the importance of conserving birds, other wildlife, water bodies, and grasslands. The guide organizes the 252 bird species into four main habitats: wetlands, forests, grasslands and shrublands, and general species. The book also includes photos from 30 photographers and provides information on each bird’s height, preferred habitat, and conservation status according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Currently, 1,000 copies of the guide have been printed. By the end of the month, HBP plans to print 10,000 more copies. In the initial phase, these guides will be distributed to government schools in Khammam and Hyderabad. The team hopes to print and distribute over 1 lakh copies to all government schools across Telangana in the next academic year.
