Bhitarkanika witnesses rise in number of monsoon avian guests
The
number of rainy season beautiful nature birds that throng the mangrove jungle bindings
in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park for their yearly nesting has overlapped 100000
with an imposing growth of 11 percent this year, officials said.
According to results of a survey, 1,08,639 birds, with 62,983
chicks of eleven species, were sighted at the park in Kendrapara district.
It is a rise of 11 per cent as compared to 97,866 birds sighted
in the 2020 rainy season at the wildlife sanctuary, which has the
second-largest mangrove ecosystem in the country, they said.
“The pertinent feature of census findings for the year was that
the monsoon birds found a new nesting site at a mangrove forest near Mathadia,”
one of the officials said.
Lack of human interference, ideal climatic conditions and the
river system have always attracted the monsoon birds towards Bhitarkanika,
experts said.
As per reports, the seasonal monsoon birds explored several newer locations of the park to settle and create a nesting spot. Moreover, the number of local migrant birds has significantly increased this year, which is helping to re-establish Bhitarkanika as one of the popular breeding grounds for birds during the monsoon season.
Nearly 97,866 birds of ten different species were spotted and counted around the wetlands sites so far this season. Last year, the number of monsoon birds’ was counted to be around 88,614 in the national park—marking a significant 10.44% rise in the number of birds this year.
As per the forest officials, the significant rise was mainly due to the lack of human interference, favourable climatic conditions, and the river alongside, this might have attracted more monsoon birds to crowd the Bhitarkanika national park.
The Bhitarkanika national park and wildlife sanctuary host mangroves from the Bay of Bengal and is inundated by the rivers Brahmani, Baitarani, Dhamra, and Pathsala. It is the second-largest mangrove ecosystem in India.
Most numbers of the birds count this year belonged to open bill stork species or Gendalia. Other monsoon birds to throng the national park are Kaparkhai, Anjana, Rani Baga, Panikua, Gendalia, and Khaira. They usually build their nest on trees like Guan, Bani and Kerua. This year, the monsoon birds built a total number of 21,185 nests across the national park, as compared to 19,298 last year.
Every year during the monsoon the officials of the national park carry out a bird census for both local and migratory birds. Thousands of birds fly from far off places like the Caspian Sea, Russia, Central Asia, Ladakh and Himalayas to arrive at Bhitarkanika during monsoon months and migrate back by October.
Rise in number of monsoon birds in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika:
The officials of the national park have also noted that this time the most important trend was that many of the monsoon birds skipped visiting other most favourable nesting sites like Bagagahana. Instead, they chose to breed at various wetland spots of the national park like Mathadia, Laxmiprasaddia and Durga Prasada. One of the prime reasons for this shift in trend is the depleting water sources at the Bagagahana site and the other such locations.
Based in the Kendrapara district of Odisha—the national park is spread on 145 square kilometres of land. It is home to various kinds of species including crocodiles, turtles, and also many migratory birds that come in here annually to breed and nourish. The national park is a rich hotspot of diverse species including eight varieties of kingfishers.
