1st state-wide owl survey records 11 species across 13 dists in 4 months
Times of India | 19 July 2026
Kolkata: West Bengal’s first comprehensive statewide owl survey — the first initiative of its kind in India — has documented 11 owl species during the first four months of fieldwork, providing the most extensive baseline yet on the state’s nocturnal raptors.
The initial data was released on the sidelines of Bengal Birders’ Meet in the city on Saturday.
The survey, led by Kolkata-based Birdwatchers’ Society (BWS) in collaboration with the WWF-India and state forest dept, has so far uploaded 201 checklists on eBird — a global online database on documentation of birds — from 16 regions, including 13 districts. The exercise is designed to map owl diversity, abundance and distribution across both protected forests and human-dominated landscapes, creating a scientific foundation for long-term conservation.
Preliminary findings show that surveys have covered Alipurduar, Bankura, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Hooghly, Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Nadia, West Midnapore, East Burdwan, East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, along with other designated eBird regions in the state, taking the total survey coverage to 16 regions/districts.
“Among the 11 owl species recorded so far are the eastern barn owl, Indian scops owl, collared scops owl, oriental scops owl, mountain scops owl, brown fish owl, Asian barred owlet, collared owlet, spotted owlet, brown wood owl and brown boobook. The records include both direct sightings and vocal detections using acoustic survey techniques,” said Sujan Chatterjee of BWS.
The survey follows a scientifically designed grid-based protocol. Bengal has been divided into 267 grids of 20 km × 20 km, of which more than 100 representative grids — over 30% of the total — are being sampled. At each grid, teams conduct 12 focal-point counts, each lasting 10-15 minutes and separated by at least three kilometres. Call playback is used during peak owl activity, generally within four hours after sunset, to improve detection rates.
Conservationists say the project will provide the first reliable estimate of owl distribution in Bengal, identify key nesting-roosting sites and assess threats such as habitat loss, human disturbance and poisoning.
Among the speakers on the first day of the two-day meet were Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF-India, Rajesh Kumar, chief wildlife warden, Bengal, Sonali Ghosh, field director of Manas Tiger, Reserve, Prachi Mehta, wildlife biologist and director of Wildlife Research & Conservation Society, Lester Perera, environmentalist and birder from Sri Lanka, Dipankar Ghose, senior director, WWF-India, Vasudha Mishra of HEAL and Subham Banerjee, post-doc researcher, Colorado State University.