Odisha: Three-day residential monsoon bird census begins at Bhitarkanika

Kendrapara (Odisha), Aug 30 (PTI) Authorities of Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha’s Kendrapara district launched a three-day census on Saturday to count the residential monsoon birds that flock to the park's wetland areas every year for nesting, officials said.

The count is being carried out by two teams of seven members each, which include ornithologists and wildlife personnel from the national park.

According to Manas Das, Assistant Conservator of Forests, the teams are conducting the headcount of various avian species that arrive during monsoon.

Monsoon triggers a delightful cacophony of chirps along the marshy wetlands of the park. "Although the rain was not uniform this year, leading to a delayed arrival of the birds, we are still witnessing a large congregation of these migratory species along the park's mangrove areas," officials said.

The enumerators will cover all the major congregation zones both in and outside the national park.

Besides the core areas of the national park, peripheral wetland sites like Mathadiha, Laxmiprasaddiha, and Durgaprasaddiha are also being taken up for the census, Das said.

Lack of human interference, ideal climatic conditions, cool breeze and the river system here all have emerged to the liking of these delicate chirpy winged species, he added.

Over a dozen types of local residential birds congregate in and around the national park for nesting and breeding every year.

These include species like the Open-billed Stork, Little Cormorant, Intermediate Egret, Large Egret, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Night Heron, Darter, White Ibis, and Cattle Egret, forest officials said.

As many as 1,30,123 monsoon residential birds belonging to 10 species were sighted in 27,282 nests on 1,300 trees during 2024 census, the official said. PTI COR AAM AAM MNB