Students and professionals alike are busy watching flying jewels across the State and photo-documenting them as a part of the Backyard Odonata Watch, the Kerala leg of the Natonal Dragonfly festival.
Within the first 15 days, dragonfly enthusiasts have recorded an impressive 106 species all over the State. This include dragonflies endemic to the Western Ghats such as Travancore Bambootail, Goan Shadowdancer, and the very common ones like Green Marsh Hawk that inhabit even urban areas.
More than 1,000 observations from ponds, puddles, and streams have been shared in the ‘Dragonflies of Kerala’ Facebook page as a part of the Backyard Odonata Watch organised jointly by the WWF-India, Society for Odonate Studies (SOS), and Thumbipuranam.
“It is commendable that citizen-scientists have recorded 62% of all the dragonfly species recorded from Kerala till date in such a short time,” says SOS president Jeevan Jose.
“What amazed us is that all these observations were made from the backyards of the observers, following COVID restrictions,” says Renjan Mathew, Kerala State Director, WWF-India.
Aamina Ismail, a zoology graduate from Aluva, says she was able to sight Black-tipped Ground Skimmer, an uncommon dragonfly from the garden. “Now the first thing I do every morning is to go in search of dragonflies.”
Aimed at creating awareness about dragonflies and to promote conservation, the Kerala chapter of the festival ‘Thumbimaholtsavam 2020’ includes field observations, webinars, and competitions.
“We aspire to document at least 150 species of dragonflies out of the 170 reported from Kerala before the backyard watch concludes in October,” says Jeffin John, a coordinator of Thumbipuranam.
