Migratory birds from Chilika are leaving early because of soaring temperatures

Migratory birds had made the Chilika their winter home and have started to leave early and begin their homebound journey because of soaring temperatures. Over 50 per cent of them have already left while the rest are likely to fly off shortly. Same is observed in the Bhitarkanika National Park also.
Usually, the migratory birds arrive from Siberia, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in October and return by March but, this year, the return is early, about a week before their usual time of departure.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 21 February 2017.

It is estimated that around 9.47 lakh birds belonging to 176 species had arrived this year to spend the winter at the wetland spread over 1,100sqkm. - it has been designated as a Ramsar site (wetland of international importance). The corresponding figures for 2015 was more than 4.6 lakh birds of 161 species. However, in the Bhitarkanika wetland sites, there was a drop in the number of winged visitors from trans-Himalayan region.
In the opinion of ornithologists, the duration of stay of migratory birds is on the decline and this can be ttributed to early arrival of summer. Earlier, summer used to set in from mid-March.


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Sharp decline in arrival of migratory birds in Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary

This year, there is a sharp decline in the arrival of migratory birds in the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary at Kodiakarai in Nagapattinam district. It usually attract several thousands of migratory birds every year but, this year there is a sharp decline according to a top ornithologist of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
Point Calimere usually receives birds from other countries but, this year, Indian birds are coming in large numbers.
This has been reported in deccanherald.com fated 19 November 2016.

So far, a few thousands of flamingos, shore birds, particularly wader and seagulls have arrived The migratory birds usually start to arrive at the sanctuary during the first half of October this year. Last year the area had received 656 mm rain in October and 660 mm in November. Against this, in the current year, the area has received only 145 mm during October and just 92 mm during the first half of November.
Normally, during the same time last year, nearly 1.5 lakh birds had arrived but,this year, the figure is around 40,000. Certain species like the slender-billed gulls, Ibis, painted storks, spoon-bills and pelicans that fall in the rare worldwide category, could arrive during December because this sanctuary usually serves as a temporary halt location for them as they wing across to other countries like Sri Lanka.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Arrival of migrant birds increases in Bhitarkanika National Park to over one lakh

Arrival of migrant birds has shown an upward trend in Bhitarkanika National Park. It has increased to to over one lakh against around 97,000 last year. Therefore, this national park has yet again reinstated its place in the state of Odisha as one of the congenial heronries for the migrant water birds.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 3 September 2016.

Prominent among the species that arrived for nesting were grey heron, purple heron, darter, cormorant, large egret, intermediary egret and little egret.
The counting began on August 22. It was a week-long drive for the head count of seasonal monsoon birds. There were two teams comprising 10 ornithologists besides wildlife personnel of the national park. Since the rainfall was not uniform, arrival of the birds was delayed.
Still, as many as 21,204 nests were spotted on 2,098 treetops. Out of the counted birds, 42,408 adults were enumerated arriving here for monsoon sojourn. The heronry at Bagagahana attracted the highest number (46,322) of birds. The teams took into account all major congregation zones both in and out of the park. Apart from the core area of the national park, peripheral wetland sites like Satabhaya and Barunei were also included in the census.
It may be recalled that noted ornithologist Salim Ali had made a chance discovery of this habitat of the birds while he was a visit to Bhitarkanika in 1981.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) have spotted 9,000 weaver birds in Odisha

The Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) have spotted 9,000 weaver birds in Odisha during a two-day baya weaver count this month which had been undertaken on June 5 and 12 as part of IBCN's pan-India count under Bombay Natural History Society's Common Bird Monitoring Program. The intention was to ascertain the number of Baya weaver birds in the country.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 19 June 2016.

Weaver bird sightings have been recorded and reported from select sites in Khurda, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapara, Keonjhar and Puri districts. Odisha is home to three weaver birds species - Baya weaver (common Baya or Indian weaver), streaked weaver and black-breasted weaver (black-throated weaver).
The sparrow-sized weaver birds are known for their nest-weaving skills and is the only species that builds suspended pendulous nests in colonies, usually above water.
Weaver nests were also spotted on palm, banyan and other trees at many other places during the count in the eight districts.
However, there is a decline in the number of weaver birds and this is attributed to growing human population and development has worried ornithologists. They said most weaver birds, which were once a common species across India, are undergoing a slow but steady population decline with the increasing loss and modification of grasslands into human-dominated landscape such as farms, factories, canals, roads and rapid increase in human population.


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America has the bald eagle, Sweden the common blackbird, Japan the green pheasant, France the Gallic rooster and India the peacock but, for Britain, there is no unique bird that has been given the tag of ‘national bird’.
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