Nameer, who was also involved in this case, says “We clearly demonstrated to the state government and other concerned departments that the migratory birds which were alleged to be carriers of the H1N1 virus, arrived only subsequently to the actual reported incident of the disease”, he says.

The birdwatchers issued a statement throwing doubt at the animal husbandry department’s theory. “The government then stopped mentioning this issue in public,” says Praveen.

Conservation groups have also used the accumulated data in eBird to petition the courts.

Last year, a project to redevelop government quarters in Lutyens’ Delhi was criticised as nearly 14,000 trees would have been cut to build nearly 25,000 flats. Those who opposed the project saw an opening in the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA). The EIA specified that only 15 species were seen in the area. One of the petitioners got in touch with Pankaj Gupta of Delhi Bird Foundation, an NGO that has worked on protecting several birding habitats in and around New Delhi

Referring to the EIA, Gupta says “It became a laughing stock for us birders”. “Standing in my garden, I can see more than 15 species”, he adds with a laugh.

Using eBird, Gupta prepared a note which showed that these parts of Delhi, and Kidwainagar in particular, had about 60 to 65 species. “Anybody with a sound mind about Delhi would understand that 60-65 species in a city is nothing great”, says Gupta.

“It is normal”.

Gupta has also used eBird data in another case. About 40 kilometres outside Delhi lies the Basai Wetland, an unprotected area spread over 900 acres that is teeming with birdlife in winter. In 2017, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) received permission to build a waste processing plant there.

A few birdwatchers and conservation groups took notice and petitioned the National Green Tribunal. Now, Basai hasn’t been notified as a wetland by the Haryana government. The MCG claims that Basai is just a “piece of barren land where a few birds occasionally roost… there will be no loss of flora or fauna by setting up the plant there”.

To counter the MCG’s claim, the Delhi Bird Foundation submitted data from eBird to show the extensive birdlife that has been recorded at Basai.

Gupta says that the NGT has accepted the list as submitted by them. “There was no question raised in the court regarding the birds being there or not. It was just taken on face value”, says Gupta. “NGT recognises eBird as a source of data”.

On the case front, the Foundation has received a setback. NGT has disposed the case as the rules for classifying wetlands have changed. The court asked the Haryana government to relook at the application to declare the Basai as a wetland.