After Ahmedabad, Wadhwan in Surendranagar district is all set to get its bird atlas. A group of birders from Gujarat and other parts of the country, last week, completed the summer phase of The Wadhwan City Bird Atlas (WCBA) project to study the diversity, distribution, abundance and mobility pattern of birds in the 44 square kilometre area of the city which is known for its rich avian diversity.

The first-of-its-kind project for the Saurashtra region is a joint long-term, not-for-profit, volunteer-driven initiative to study the birds of Wadhwan. The project is being initiated and executed by the Collective Systems Lab for Animal Behaviour (ColLAB) and Ecology, Evolution, and Climate Change Research Cluster at Ahmedabad University, in collaboration with the Bird Conservation Society, Gujarat (BCSG), Gujarat Forest Department, Bird Count India, eBird India and Surendranagar Municipal Corporation.

One of the lead organisers of the initiative and an ornithologist at Ahmedabad University Devvratsinh Mori said that once completed, this will be the first bird atlas of Saurashtra region and second for Gujarat. Mori is also a member of the Gujarat State Board for Wildlife (GSBW) headed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

Speaking about the project, Mori, who belongs to Wadhwan city, said, “I already have good data of avian diversity of Wadhwan and the surrounding periphery. The presence of 259 bird species is recorded in Wadhwan which is around 42% of the total 621 bird species found in Gujarat. But I wanted to do a more intense study on the birds like distribution of species, their abundance, seasonal movement etc..”

Mori said he always wanted to do something like this in his native, Wadhwan.

According to Mori, as part of the project, they are going to cover the cluster of Wadhwan, Surendranagar, Ratanpar, Joravarnagar and Dudhrej spanning around 44 square kilometres.

He said that the first exercise of data collection for the project was carried out by 120 birders on June 12 and 13 for the summer season. Similar exercise will be carried out during monsoon and winter before collating the data and coming out with the bird atlas for Wadhwan. The 120 birders who participated in the exercise were not only from Gujarat, but also from states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

The initiative was inaugurated on June 11 in the presence of Gujarat Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia and other dignitaries from the Surendranagar district.

Mori said, “I have data of 259 species in the region. But following this extensive study in three different phases —  summer, monsoon and winter — we will come to know the exact number of species currently in the region along with various other parameters.”

In February 2026, the Ahmedabad University in collaboration with the BCSG, Bird Count India and eBird India had released a bird atlas of Ahmedabad city, recording the presence of  181 bird species. It was the first bird atlas for any city of Gujarat.

Mori said following the field work exercise for bird atlas of Wadhwan and taking inspiration from the same, some birders from Jamnagar have also announced their decision to come out with a bird atlas for the Jamnagar city.