Migratory birds flock to state wetlands

Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, December 28

Days before the Punjab Wildlife Department starts its annual water bird census, there has been rare sighting of some migratory birds which have come from as far as Central Asia and Africa. With all four state wetlands witnessing a higher turnout of migratory birds, the department sighted the common merganser, seen for the first time in the Harike Wildlife Sanctuary.

While the number of birds at the Harike wetland has already exceeded over 1.25 lakh, the Keshopur wetland has witnessed over 25,000 birds. Ropar and Nangal have seen over 5,000 birds.

As per initial sightings by the Wildlife Department and the World Wildlife Fund, the rare migratory birds that have been captured are spot billed duck, ruddy shel duck, bar headed goose, mallard duck, pintail, comb duck, coot, dabchick, showler, lesser whistling duck, domicile crane, greater white-fronted geese, northern lapwing, feruginous pochard, peregrine falcon, long-eared owl, common pochard and woolly-necked stork.

As per wildlife experts, the sightings hold more significance this year as thousands of birds, including northern shoveler, ruddy shelduck, plover, avocet, were found dead around the Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan in November.

Kuldeep Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), said: “Raptors like red-headed falcon, peregrine falcon, eurasian hobby, imperial eagle, spotted at Harike show that the five wetlands still hold flora and fauna which is adequate to attract birds from far-off areas.” “Birds from as far as Siberia have turned up which is a rare phenomenon. We have a number of such birds that are being observed by our experts. A census to study the habitat and their numbers will be conducted next week,” he said.

The census to be conducted by the department in association with the World Wildlife Fund and some bird watchers will cover Ropar, Nangal, Kanjli and Harike wetlands.

Gitanjali Kanwar, Senior Project Officer, WWF-India, Harike Bird Sanctuary, says the turnout of water birds in the wetlands of Punjab was one of the highest as compared to previous years. “Flocks of rare birds like northern lapwing, black-tailed godwit were sighted at Harike. Species like jerdon’s babler, rufous-vented prinia, and short-eared owls have also been spotted,” says Gitanjali.