Season from 1 July · BirdNET · Baner Hill
Migratory birds of Pune: arrivals on Baner Hill
Every autumn, warblers, wagtails, redstarts, flycatchers and raptors arrive in Pune from the Himalayas, Central Asia and Siberia. Earth Pulse's recorders listen every night and day and note the date each migrant is first confirmed (BirdNET confidence 0.70 or more). This season's arrivals load below.
This season at a glance
- Migrants confirmed this season
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- Arrived in the last 7 days
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- Heard before, not back yet
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- On the watch list
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Arrival board
Arrived this season
Each migrant or seasonal visitor with its first confirmed detection since 1 July, newest first. Birds marked "provisional" have a field-guide status that is not yet reviewed for Baner.
Loading this season's arrivals…
Timing
Arrival timeline and calendar
When each migrant was first confirmed this season, and the months in which it has been confirmed since monitoring began. Over the years these dates become a record of how migration timing in Pune is shifting.
Still to come
Migrants still expected
Confirmed before, not back yet
Confirmed here (BirdNET 0.70 or more) in an earlier season, not yet in this one.
Watch list: never confirmed here yet
Migrants known from the Pune region that the recorders have not confirmed. Some, like ducks and waders, need water and may only ever be heard flying over. Lower-scoring BirdNET results are stored and can be downloaded after signing in on the data page.
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Why it matters
Why migratory birds matter
Living climate sensors
Migrants time their journeys by day length and by conditions along a route thousands of kilometres long. A shift in their arrival dates in Pune, year after year, is one of the clearest biological signs of a changing climate.
Insect control
Wintering warblers and flycatchers feed almost entirely on insects, gleaning caterpillars, aphids and flies from Baner Hill's scrub and trees through the dry season.
A link across continents
The same Greenish Warbler that sings in a Siberian or Himalayan forest in June forages on Baner Hill in December. Its survival depends on both places and every stopover between them.
Early warning
Fewer migrants, or migrants staying a shorter time, can signal habitat loss on the hill before it is obvious. Recorders that run every night give a steady, comparable record.
Where they come from
The Central Asian Flyway
Pune lies near the southern end of the Central Asian Flyway, a migration corridor from Arctic Russia and Siberia through Central Asia and across or around the Himalayas to peninsular India. Distances below are approximate straight-line figures from the main breeding areas.
| Bird | Main breeding area | Distance to Pune | Usually in Pune |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenish Warbler | Eastern Europe to Siberia, Himalayas | 2,000–5,000 km | Sep–Apr |
| Blyth's Reed Warbler | Russia, Kazakhstan | about 4,000 km | Sep–Apr |
| Common Chiffchaff | Western and central Siberia | about 4,000–5,000 km | Nov–Mar |
| Red-breasted and Taiga Flycatchers | Eastern Europe to Siberia | about 4,500–5,500 km | Oct–Mar |
| Verditer Flycatcher | Himalayas | about 1,500–2,000 km | Nov–Feb |
| White and Grey Wagtails | Central Asia, Himalayas | 2,000–4,500 km | Oct–Mar |
| Black Redstart | Himalayas, Central Asia | 2,000–3,500 km | Oct–Mar |
| Common Kestrel | Central Asia, Himalayas | 2,000–3,500 km | Oct–Mar |
| Eurasian Hobby | Central Asia, Europe | 3,000–6,000 km | passage, Oct–Nov |
Breeding areas follow standard South Asian field-guide ranges; distances are rough great-circle figures to Pune and individual birds vary.
Threats
What makes Baner Hill harder for migrants
Night lighting
Most small migrants fly at night. Bright, upward and blue-white light on the hill face and on tall buildings can pull them off course and into glass, especially from mid-October to the end of November.
Scrub clearance
Dense native scrub such as bor (Ziziphus) and karvanda (Carissa) is where wintering warblers feed. Clearing it in September to November removes food and cover just as they arrive.
Cats
Tired birds that land after a night flight feed low and close to buildings, where free-roaming cats catch them.
A shrinking island
Construction is cutting Baner Hill off from nearby green spaces, so migrants have fewer places to land, feed and move on.
Hill fires
Dry-season fires on the tekdis burn the grass and scrub that pipits, wagtails, warblers and chats depend on in late winter.
What helps
Making Baner Hill a haven
Keep native scrub and open grass
Leave bor, karvanda and other native shrubs standing, and keep some open grassland for pipits and wagtails. When removing invasive Lantana, replant with natives so migrants do not lose cover.
Plant insect-rich native trees
Neem, amla, jamun and figs carry the caterpillars and small insects that warblers and flycatchers eat. Plant in the monsoon so trees are established before the October arrivals. Trees guide
Lights out, mid-October to November
Switch off unneeded outdoor lights from 21:00 to 05:00, draw curtains on upper floors, and choose warm (2700 K) shielded lights that point down.
Water
A clean, shallow water dish in a quiet spot helps birds that arrive after a long flight. Refill and clean it daily.
Add your sightings
Record what you see on eBird. Visual records fill the gaps that acoustic monitoring misses, such as quiet birds that rarely call in winter.
Keep cats in
Especially in October and November, when exhausted arrivals feed on the ground.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
When do migratory birds arrive in Pune?
Most winter visitors reach Pune between late August and November, as the monsoon ends, and leave between February and April. Passage migrants such as some flycatchers and the Eurasian Hobby pass through for a few weeks in September to November and again in spring. Earth Pulse records the date each species is first confirmed on Baner Hill every season, counting from 1 July.
Where do Baner's winter migrants come from?
Mostly from the Himalayas, Central Asia, Siberia and eastern Europe, along the Central Asian Flyway. Warblers such as Blyth's Reed Warbler and the Greenish Warbler breed from Russia and Kazakhstan to the Himalayas; wagtails and redstarts come from the Himalayas and Central Asia.
How does Earth Pulse know a bird is a migrant?
Each species' status (resident, winter visitor, passage migrant, monsoon visitor or local migrant) comes from a species table based on field guides for the Pune region. Statuses not yet reviewed for Baner are labelled provisional. Earth Pulse never guesses status from a bird's name.
Why record the first arrival date every year?
Arrival dates are one of the clearest signals of climate change in birds. Across years, a run of first-confirmed dates for the same species at the same place shows whether migrants are arriving earlier or later. Recorders that run every night catch arrivals that casual birding misses.
How to read this page
"First confirmed" is the first recording of the season in which BirdNET scored the bird 0.70 or more. Migrants are often quiet in their first days and many winter visitors call less than they sing in spring, so the true arrival can be earlier. A recorder that was off on the arrival day also pushes the date later. Comparing the same species year to year at the same place is still a fair test, because those biases stay roughly the same.
The season runs from 1 July to 30 June, so a bird that arrives in October and leaves in March counts once. Data: Earth Pulse, CC BY-NC 4.0. All birds of Baner.