A birdwatcher’s delight

Dinesh Kanwar

The international wetland Pong Dam, which has registered an increase in the annual fowl count, is emerging as an adventure and bird tourism destination. This winter, the wetland offered a rare feast to the eyes of birdwatchers as over one lakh birds flocked to its swamps and backwaters.

Besides lakhs of migratory birds arriving here during the winter, the water body has a wide scope of sports such as canoeing, surfing, boating races and fishing competitions. Birdwatchers and avian experts from across the country and also from abroad witnessed an extraordinary congregation of over 114 species. Some of the rare species of birds were seen after a gap of five to 10 years. These species (their number in bracket) included Common shelduck (75), Northern lapwing (32), Common ringed plover (20), Pied avocet (9), Osprey (5), Black-bellied tern (5), Common merganser (4), Eurasian curlew (2) and White-tailed lapwing (1), Water pipit (1), Lesser white-fronted goose (1) and Buff-bellied pipit (1). These birds arrived here from far off countries such as Austria, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Siberian region.

A census of birds conducted this month revealed that over 115,701 birds from trans-Himalayan region, Indian subcontinent and the Pong Dam area flocked to the dam this winter.

The wildlife wing of the Forest Department organised the first ever two-day Bird Festival on February 1 and 2 at the Pong Dam near Sugnara village. The objective of the festival was to promote the Pong wetland as a place of avian importance on the international map and also to develop the dam as a bird tourism destination.

Bird ringing station

To add more appeal to the site, the department had established a state-of-the-art bird ringing station. Experts from the wildlife wing of the department captured a few birds of various species, including Bar-headed geese and Ruddy shelduck, and put rings around a leg of each of them.

Birders come together

Birding experts from different organisations and clubs, including Chandigarh Bird Club, Wildlife Institute of India, Dharamsala Bird Club, and Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and ecologists from Delhi, scientists and students of life sciences from Central University, Shahpur, and from schools at Nagrota Surian, Sukhnara, and Katholi participated in various events in the festival.

Boating and cycling

A provision of cycles and boating facility at the Pong Dam attracted water sports and adventure sports lovers. Visitors can now hire a cycle from the office of the Forest Range Officer at a nominal charge. The boat ride to Ransar Island was another activity at the festival this time. Ransar Island is famous for a number of species of reptiles, including cobra, python, scaled viper and pit viper. Jungle safari enthusiasts can visit the island to have a feel of the wild.

Rahul Rohane, DFO (Wildlife), says that the bird festival helped in creating awareness about avian species among students. It also provided them with an opportunity to interact with life sciences experts. The Forest Department added more facilities such as cycling, boating and bird watching towers at the dam site.

Research opportunities

Pradeep Thakur, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), says that the new bird ringing station at the Pong Dam will offer more research opportunities to birders. This is the first bird ringing station in north India, he adds.

Aim was to educate people

Dr Savita, Chief Wildlife Warden, says that the bird festival was organised to educate people about the importance of birds and wildlife for human life. She adds that the Pong Dam reservoir offers multiple attractions for tourism, hence the promotion of ecotourism here will also be considered.