Feathered friends of India now homeward bound

IANS | Apr 14, 2013
SHIMLA: They still take the traditional Silk Route. Only, unlike ancient traders and travellers, they take wings.

The feathered guests that descend on various waterbodies across India with the onset of winter, after crossing national and international boundaries to avoid the extreme chill of their native habitats in Tibet, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia, are now set to make their annual return journey.

A migratory bird in the Kangra Valley's Pong wetlands in Himachal Pradesh, which was tagged with a global positioning system (GPS) transmitter last winter, has returned to its native China. A few other bird species are currently in lakes in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, after their winter sojourn in Pong's man-made wetlands, in the Himalayan foothills, about 250 km from state capital Shimla.

A few "holidaying" birds remain, though, in Pong.

"A pintail that was tagged with a satellite transmitter in Pong was recorded last week in China. Another bird of the same species has reached Kyrgyzstan," chief wildlife Warden AK Gulati told IANS.

He said the migratory routes of the birds stretched from India to China, with brief stopovers at key wetlands in the Himalayas and the trans-Himalayas.

The state wildlife department, in association with the Mumbai-based Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), under a central government-aided project to track their migratory routes through satellite, tagged 14 migratory birds of different species for the third consecutive year in Pong.

BNHS assistant director S Balachandran, who installed the GPS chips on the birds and monitored their movements, said a common teal, tagged in Pong, was recently recorded in Pakistan.

Two birds - a greylag goose and a shoveller - were recorded in Srinagar and Harike in Punjab, respectively, this month.

"They might be on their return journey from Pong to their native habitats," he said.

Balachandran said a tagged common teal and a shoveller are still roosting in Pong.

"Some common teals and shovellers are still in Pong. They could start their return journey to their native habitats anytime now," he said.

Crossing national and international boundaries, millions of migratory birds of several species descend on various water bodies and wetlands in the region. They start returning by the end of February or the beginning of March.

In the last two years, the BNHS also installed metal bands and red and white neck collars with a serial number, place and date on more than 350 migratory birds in Pong.

The prominent species were the bar-headed geese, pintails, common teals, coots, cormorants, European lapwing, shovellers and wigeons.

Wildlife officials said a common teal that was ringed in Pong last year was shot dead in northeast Russia this year.

Around 123,000 waterfowl of 113 species were recorded in a census conducted by the wildlife wing in the first week of February at Pong Dam wildlife sanctuary spread over 307 sq km.

The largest influx was of the bar-headed goose, a regular visitor from Central Asia, including Tibet and Ladakh. Their number was around 34,000, wildlife officials said.

The other main species found were northern pintail (21,000), common pochard (12,000) and little cormorant (7,700), besides common coot, red-crested pochard, great cormorant, pintail duck, river tern and great-crested grebe.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Feathered-friends-of-India-now-homeward-bound/articleshow/19541384.cms

Scripting An Almanac, One Bird At A Time

A project to track bird movements across India may help pin down the reasons why the number of migratory birds is declining. Akshai Jain reports

Last flight? Migratory pelicans and
painted storks at a small pond near
Dholera, 110 km from Ahmedabad.
Photo: AFP

RAMIT SINGAL, a 22-year-old engineering student, was puzzled. The Common Sandpiper, a small dust-coloured bird that migrates every winter from Russia to India, had been late arriving. Instead of getting to Manipal, (where Singal studies), in early August, the birds had arrived in mid-September. “Other migrants, like the Lesser Sand Plover, were also late,” he says.

In Mysore, a few hundred kilometres away, A Shivaprakash was pondering over another ornithological question. Being a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, puzzles don’t ruffle him, but the decline in the number of water birds in the lakes around Mysore was still troubling.

Till a decade ago, his birding group counted nearly 3 lakh migratory birds every season across 200 small and big lakes in Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Coorg districts. “But in the past seven or eight years,” he sighs, “there’s been a drastic reduction. I don’t think we have counted more than 50,000 birds.”

Birdwatchers in other parts of the country have also been alarmed by the decline in the numbers of migratory birds and the increasingly late arrivals of species that do come.

Unfortunately, in the absence of any long-term monitoring data on Indian bird species, it’s impossible to evaluate these changes scientifically, with a certainty that goes beyond anecdotal evidence and conjecture. Without the reference point that this data constitutes — referred to as a baseline in scientific parlance — it is impossible to say whether the shifts reported by birdwatchers are routine fluctuations or indicators of a far graver problem. Ornithologists find themselves in the position of a football referee tasked with calling a goal in a field that has no posts.

“At present, we suspect even so-called common species such as Common Drongo, Indian Roller, Hoopoe, Magpie Robin and Common Nightjar have declined due to habitat destruction and extensive use of pesticides,” says Dr Asad Rahmani, director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). “But we don’t have good scientific data to back this impression.”

Now, MigrantWatch, a ‘citizen science’ programme that relies on the observations of hundreds of amateur birdwatchers like Singal and Shivaprakash, is changing that.

The programme, started by Suhel Quader, an ecologist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru, has built up a meticulous database of common winter migrants.

Birdwatchers from across the country upload detailed observations from their birding trips on the programme’s website. Quader and his team then collate it, charting the arrival and departure of migrant species, and tracking their movement through the country.

Anniversaries might be irrelevant in the natural world, but for MigrantWatch, the five years it has just completed is a milestone that marks significant progress towards establishing a baseline.

From monitoring just nine migratory species when it started, it now monitors 246 species, focussing on 30 common and easily identified migrants. Over 600 birders have contributed to this database, which just hit 19,000 observations.

After a slow start, interest in the programme has shot up. “More people have joined us in the past year-and-a-half,” says Quader proudly, “than in the first four years put together.”

More significantly, the observational dots are joining up and the faint outline of patterns emerging. For 20 species, MigrantWatch has accumulated 200 or more observations, and for another six, it has more than 500 observations each.

Source: http://tehelka.com/scripting-an-almanac-one-bird-at-a-time/

The birds really rule the roost here

M.T. SHIVA KUMAR

Spot-billed Pelicans, Painted Storks and other species have started arriving at Kokkare Bellur

• Around Rs. 1.2lakh is given annually as relief to persons on whose property the birds nest
• ‘Kokkare Bellur may be given ‘Community Bird Sanctuary’ status to develop it’

Here again: More than 1,500 birds of several species
descend on Kokkare Bellur village in
Mandya district every year to nest.

Much to the delight of bird-watchers, several species of birds have started arriving at Kokkare Bellur, on the banks of the Shimsha, near Maddur, in the district.

Kokkare Bellur is among the 465 bird sites identified in the country by the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN).

Around 300 Spot-billed Pelicans, nearly 1,100 Painted Storks as well as other species of birds have landed at Kokkare Bellur in the last few weeks, occupying around 140 trees.

‘Increase in numbers’

“There is a considerable increase in the number of migratory birds compared with last year,” G. Mahesh, Deputy Range Forest Officer (Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary), told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The increase in the number of winged visitors had left bird-watchers elated, Mr. Mahesh said.

More than 1,500 birds of several species descend on the village every year to nest. Last year, around 800 Painted Storks visited the village. Kokkare Bellur is considered one of the safe places for pelicans in India with local people passionately safeguarding the birds.

According to local people, the birds have been coming to Kokkare Bellur to nest for several decades and depart with the onset of monsoon. The Forest Department has been requesting local residents not to harm the birds and not to cut or trim the branches of trees.

It distributes around Rs. 1.2 lakh annually as compensation to persons on whose property the birds nest.

For rescued chicks

The department has also hired a local person, P. Lokesh Kumar, to keep an eye on the movements of the birds and to protect chicks from stray dogs. An enclosure with a mesh has been established at the village where chicks that have fallen from their nests are taken care of.

Recently, he and some others rescued three chicks recently which are being looked after at the enclosure.

The village also attracts tourists from different parts of the country, Mr. Lokesh told The Hindu .

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Mahesh, the Forest Department is contemplating giving Kokkare Bellur ‘Community Bird Sanctuary’ status to develop it.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/the-birds-really-rule-the-roost-here/article4457339.ece

Crowded nesting stands prove dear for winged visitors

RAJULAPUDI SRINIVAS

A juvenile pelican died as it got stuck in the iron stand arranged for nesting in
Kolleru Lake at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary in Krishna district. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

A few pelican chicks died and eggs were damaged when they fell from iron stands arranged in Kolleru Lake at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary due to overcrowding of the winged visitors.

About 1,500 chicks, aged between 30 and 60 days, were found on the stands recently.

“The water level in the lake is good. This year the number of birds visiting the sanctuary is high when compared to previous years. A few chicks died and eggs were damaged when they fell from the overcrowded stands,” said the Forest Department officials.

Speaking to The Hindu, Kaikalur Forest Range Officer (FRO) V. Ratna Kumar said the Kolleru Wildlife Management officials arranged iron stands for facilitating the birds for nesting.

Atapaka Bird Sanctuary Deputy FRO V. Satyanandam said as there was no protection on the edges of the stands a few chicks and eggs slipped from the stands.

“We also observed a few chicks dying when they got stuck in the mesh arranged on the stands,” he said.

In addition to 60 iron stands, they erected 40 more stands at different places for the birds to rest.

Metal rods were arranged on the borders of the new stands to protect the chicks and the eggs, he said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/crowded-nesting-stands-prove-dear-for-winged-visitors/article4431436.ece

New migratory bird varieties a treat to bird lovers

By P Sudhakaran, TNN

Bird watchers and enthusiasts have sighted new
varieties of migratory birds here in the recent times
with the change in climatic conditions. (PTI Photo)

KANNUR: Bird watchers and enthusiasts have sighted new varieties of migratory birds here in the recent times with the change in climatic conditions.

It seems the heat condition has not affected the number of birds arriving here.

"Some of the birds visit places like Munderikkadavu and Kadalundi because here the wetlands have not dried up completely despite low rainfall in South India especially in the Deccan plateau," said C Sasikumar, a researcher on migratory birds.

"However, there is a huge reduction in the number of birds coming here when compared to the 80s," he said.

Nearly 50 varieties of migratory birds including Siberian cranes and gulls come to Kerala. What is surprising ornithologist here is the presence of birds found only in the arid climates. Recently, they found some varieties of finches in Kerala, which is quite unusual.

"Migratory birds play a crucial role in agriculture. They increase the soil fertility with their droppings and also feed on harmful pests. We must ensure a better environment for them," he said.

"No serious effort has been made by the experts to study the climate change. Studying the pattern of the birds that come over here could reveal many interesting aspects of our climate," he added.

Academician Khaleel Chovva said that there are some major changes in the pattern of the migratory birds coming to Kerala. "This year we sighted some rare birds like ruddy shelduck (chakravakam) at Munderikkadavu, which nests in the Himalayas. Though such birds leave the Himalayas only during winters it would be interesting to study why they came here this time," said Khaleel.

A few months ago he had sighted the nesting of black-winged stilt and painted storks at Kannur. Forest birds like turtle dove were also spotted in Ezhom. Change in the habitation of the birds could be a clear indicator of the climatic change and that should be studied, he added.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/New-migratory-bird-varieties-a-treat-to-bird-lovers/articleshow/18081362.cms

When the birds come calling

IANS

During the winter months the Odisha Bhitarkanika National Park plays host to thousands of birds. This year saw a record number of feathered friends visiting.

Black-tailed Godwit:Migratory birds.Photo: Lingaraj Panda

This year has been unusually good for bird watchers at the Odisha Bhitarkanika National Park in Orissa. They have spotted upto 81,000 migratory birds as well as resident birds at the park. Last year, the total count of birds was just 52,242.

According to the Divisional Forest Officer Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, at least 111 species of birds were spotted.

Visitors

The annual bird census was conducted on December 26, 2012 at the park in Kendrapada, about 170 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar. The major highlight of the census was that as many as 36,000 Black-tailed Godwits were spotted. The Black-tailed Godwit ( Limosa limosa ) is a large, long-billed shorebird. It is a member of the Limosa genus, the godwits. There are three subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown in winter. They have a distinctive black and white wingbar. They have a discontinuous breeding range stretching from Iceland to the far east of Russia.

Another interesting fact at the census was that enumerators spotted a rare group of birds which they are yet to identify.

Besides the Black-tailed Godwit the other prominent species visiting the park were the Brahmini ducks and the Bar-headed geese.

The Brahmini ducks are a small resident population in north-west Africa and Ethiopia. But, the main breeding area of this species is from south-east Europe across central Asia to south-east Asia. These birds are mostly migratory, wintering in the Indian subcontinent.

The Bar-headed goose breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes. It winters in South Asia, as far south as the Indian peninsular. It lays around three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest.

The Bhitarkanika park, also a wildlife sanctuary, is home to over 200 species of birds, including 98 varieties of migratory birds.

The sanctuary is widely known as the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles.

Every year, more than a million migratory birds from places as far as Siberia and Iraq flock to various sites in Odisha in October, spending the winter here before returning in March.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-youngworld/when-the-birds-come-calling/article4285827.ece