Campus Bird Count: MU stands 1st in state, 2nd in Country
Konaje: The Mangalore University has secured second position in the country In the Campus Bird Count (CBC), Mangalore University is among the top five bird-rich campuses and secured second position in the country, followed by Kerala Agricultural University.
Birders from Mangalore University were able to record 110 species of birds during the Campus Bird Counting (CBC), an initiative taken up under Great Backyard Bird Count of Bird Count India, during the three-day bird-counting exercise between February 16 and 19 at the university’s Mangalagangothri campus in Konaje near here.
The University topped the campuses in Karnataka in both species numbers and total checklists. This time, the event had over 50 participants.
This year, the CBC concluded with a record-breaking 110 bird species on Mangalore University campus. Some of the highlights are the Tickell's Leaf Warbler (probably the 2nd record for Coastal Karnataka), and winter migratory birds like Indian Pitta, Brown Shrike, Booted Eagle, Ashy Drongo, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Eurasian Blackbird, Gray wagtail and Blyth's Pipit and Srilankan Frogmouth.
The team was led by Vineeth Kumar K (research scholar), with Jagdish Paithankar (research scholar), Bhagya U J (MSc student) and Donald Preetam Henry (MSc student) of Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University.
The enthusiasts students and research scholars from various PG Departments “ Applied Zoology, Applied Botany, Biosciences, Chemistry, Commerce, Geoinformatics, Material science, Physics and Yogic Science – along with some staff of P A College of Engineering, Ambika Vidyalaya and Govinda Dasa College, students and research scholars from other institutions and some independent birdwatchers from Mangaluru had taken part.
The success of the event is mainly due to involvement of enthusiastic participants and also covering of more unexplored areas of the campus in this year's survey.
The CBC is a sub-event of the larger 'Great Backyard Bird Count' (GBBC), organised by the annual Bird Count India. This is a collaborative effort to document the bird-life in campuses across India, with information about the diversity, distribution and frequency of bird species outside the protected areas.
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Will do whatever we can: Iranian official on Nimisha Priya case
New Delhi, Jan 2: Iran will do whatever it can in the case of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, facing a death sentence in Yemen, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday.
Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, has been found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July 2017.
The 37-year-old nurse is currently lodged in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
"We will take up the issue. She seems to have been charged with manslaughter. We will do whatever we can in the case on humanitarian grounds," the Iranian official told a group of journalists in Delhi.
The Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi, reportedly died from an overdose of sedatives allegedly injected by Priya to retrieve her passport from him.
According to reports, Priya was handed capital punishment by a trial court in 2020 while Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council upheld the verdict in November 2023.
Yemen's President Rashad al-Alimi approved the death penalty to Priya a few days ago.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Tuesday said India is extending all possible help to explore relevant options in the case.
"We are aware of the sentencing of Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Priya is exploring relevant options," Jaiswal said.
"The government is extending all possible help in the matter," he said.
Priya's mother, Prema Kumari, currently in Sana'a, has made an emotional appeal to the Indian government to save her daughter's life.
In a video message from Yemen, Prema Kumari urged the Centre and other authorities to intervene urgently.
"This is my final plea. She has only a few days left. Every member of the action council has worked tirelessly to raise funds. I beg the Centre and the council to do everything possible to save her life," she said.
