Kendrapara: With the winter season coming to an end, migratory birds have started their homeward journey from Bhitarkanika National Park, said Harekrushna Mallick, Rajnagar forest ranger.
Every year, with the arrival of winter, the birds fly thousands of miles to Bhitarkanika to escape the harsh winter in Siberia, Afghanistan, Iraq, northern Asia and central European countries. They generally stay in the park for three to four months before starting their homeward journey.
As per the recently conducted bird status survey, an estimated 76,268 birds belonging to 109 species were sighted by enumerators in Bhitarkanika National Park.
Of them, 20,765 were lesser whistling ducks while 70 were grebes. However, bird species like pelicans, flamingos and cranes were not sighted this time.
As many as 1,333 gulls, terns and skimmer of seven species were also spotted by the enumerators during the status survey. Wetland dependent birds like hawks, eagles, osprey and falcon of seven species with a population of 63 also visited this time.
Bhitarkanika is considered the transit point for migratory birds as they throng in large numbers when chill increases in their homeland and return when the water bodies in Bhitarkanika dry up.
Despite the drop in feathered guests’ number, the highlight of this year’s headcount exercise was the sighting of endangered and rare bird species like greater crested tern, common shell duck and blue tailed godwits. All these species are treated as rare, Rajnagar forest range officials said.
This is for the first time that these species were sighted in Bhitarkanika although the number of these species sighted was less than a hundred. Their arrival was not recorded by enumerators earlier. PNN
