--Around 20,000 birds increased
in Nalabana Island
BHUBANESWAR: Population of the
winged guests has been decreased than the last year, informed Divisional Forest
Officer (Chilika wildlife) BP Acharya on Sunday after finishing the two-day long
bird survey in Chilika, the largest brackish lake in Asia. Total 8, 77,322
birds have been counted at the lake this winter against last year’s 8, 83,060
birds, said Acharya.
“Around 5,000 birds less than
last year’s total, while approximately 20,000 more birds are spending their
winter time in the Nalabana Island”
said the DFO, adding, “Ban on fishing and tourism in the island may be a reason
behind the significant rise of bird population.”
Chilika, which has been
designated as a Ramsar site (wetland of international importance), is the most
sought-after hub for the migratory birds usually gets over hundred of birds
species including local ones during this time. This year, two new species of
bird- Mallard and Goliath were found at Sundarpur and Nalabana area respectively,
said the wildlife officials.
As many as 85 experts and 20
voluntary teams, including ornithologists from Odisha University of Agriculture
and Technology, Bombay Natural History Society, Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore
and National Board of Wildlife were engaged in direct count of the avian
species in the lake.
The 1,100 sq km vast lake was
divided into 17 sections to count the birds and the participants were trained
in census operation at Wetland Research and Training Centre at Chandraput, a
fishing village near Banapur in Chilika. Participants from Railway Department,
Forest Department, Indian Army and local tehsildar were present.
Tourists were banned from
entering the Nalabana bird sanctuary inside the lake and fishermen had been
asked not to use fishing boats in other areas of the lake because that would
disturb the birds. So the census officials had used traditional boats during
the birds’ count.
No comments:
Post a Comment