Kendrapara: Population of nesting birds has registered a marginal increase in Bhitarkanika National Park, located in Odisha’s Kendrapara district in this monsoon season, a senior forest official said Monday.
The official statistics of the bird census pegged their population at 1,30,123 belonging to ten species. With this, the population of the monsoon birds has increased by 6,265, compared to the last census as forest officials sighted 1,23,867 birds in 2023.
As many as 27,282 nests atop 1,300 mangrove trees were counted this season. The census report reflects the results only from the direct count method. The census teams monitored all the water bodies and mangrove forest areas of Mathadia, Laxmiprasaddia, Durgaprasaddia and Balidia heronries in and around the Bhitarkanika National Park, the official said.
The increase in the number of birds visiting Bhitarkanika is a good sign for bird conservation programmes in the state, said Sudarshan Gopinath Yadav, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Bhitarkanika National Park.
Abundant fish in the river and creeks and distance from human habitation have made it a suitable congenial breeding place for thousands of birds. Watching these birds make and mend nests, collect green branches for building and repairing nests, lay, incubate, hatch eggs, feed fledglings, guard them from predators, and cover them with outspread wings to protect them from scorching rays of sun and heavy downpours is a sight to behold, said the forest officer.
PTI
