IWN Daily Digest — Wednesday, 17 June 2026
Delhi is the world’s second-richest capital city for bird diversity after Nairobi — a finding from the city’s first comprehensive Delhi Bird Atlas, released on World Environment Day, 5 June 2026.
The atlas was produced by the Delhi Forest Department in collaboration with Bird Count India and WWF-India through a city-wide citizen science initiative. For the survey, Delhi was divided into 6.6 km × 6.6 km grids; 145 randomly selected sub-cells, covering roughly 11% of the city’s area, were surveyed on foot by teams of two to five birdwatchers during both winter and summer seasons.
The city’s full bird list now stands at 471 species (excluding 22 species not re-recorded since 1975). Of those, 221 were directly documented during the first year of surveys — 126 resident species, 81 winter migrants, and 14 summer migrants. The atlas also recorded 18 endemic species.
Species of conservation concern
The atlas recorded several threatened species within Delhi’s boundaries: the Endangered Black-bellied Tern, and the Vulnerable Egyptian Vulture, River Tern, and Common Pochard. Near Threatened species documented include the Painted Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Oriental Darter, and Asian Woolly-necked Stork — a reminder that Delhi’s green corridors and waterbodies are not simply amenity spaces but functioning habitat for birds that are declining across their wider range.
Why Delhi is so rich in birds
The atlas attributes Delhi’s diversity to its geography. The city sits at the northern edge of the Aravalli hills, spans the Yamuna and Sahibi floodplains, and lies directly along the Central Asian Flyway — one of the world’s major migratory routes, connecting breeding grounds in Siberia and Central Asia with wintering grounds across South Asia. That combination, even within one of the world’s most densely populated urban corridors, is enough to sustain a bird assemblage that most tropical forest cities would envy.
Of the 221 species documented in year one, the survey classified 108 (48.87%) as invertebrate feeders, 37 (16.74%) as plant and seed feeders, 34 (15.38%) as omnivores, 33 (14.93%) as vertebrate and carrion feeders, and nine (4.07%) as fruit and nectar feeders — a spread that reflects the range of intact microhabitats still functioning within the city.
A baseline, not a conclusion
The Delhi Bird Atlas is a two-year initiative; year-two findings will consolidate and extend the baseline. Its explicit purpose, as the atlas describes it, is to create a long-term scientific record for monitoring bird populations, assessing habitat health, and tracking ecological change across the city — the kind of data that can, over time, make urban conservation arguments that anecdote cannot.
“This data will help researchers and urban planners better understand biodiversity and make informed decisions for conservation and urban development,” said Pankaj Gupta, State Coordinator, Bird Count India.
Sources: Deccan Chronicle · Down To Earth · The Hans India
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