The Green bee-eater
There has been a decrease of bird species diversity in the Garhimandu city forest in north Delhi — from 120 in 2014 to just 44 species this year — ecologists said. This, they said, is due to loss of dense forest cover in the capital. On ‘Big Bird Day’ organised on February 18 by DelhiBird — a network of birders across north India — bird watchers and ecologists fanned out across the city to conduct a census of bird species.
The India State of Forest Report 2017, released recently by the Centre, found that the total forest cover and tree cover in Delhi has gone up by 0.25% and 0.13%, respectively. Since 2015, the forest cover in India has gone up by 1%. But ‘very dense’ forest cover in Delhi has declined from 6.94 sqkm in 2015 to 6.72 sqkm in 2017, while ‘medium dense’ forest cover has dropped from 57.1 sqkm to 56.2 sqkm during the same time.
This loss in dense forest cover is directly linked to the decrease in bird species diversity, ecologists said. “Dense forest cover is declining, and we are losing bio-diverse forests which are habitats for wildlife despite continuous plantation drives. Garhimandu city forest, located on the eastern bank of the Yamuna, is one of the diverse city forests in the north forest division,” said T K Roy, an ecologist who was in charge of the survey.
Red-whiskered bulbul
Spanning 300 hectares, the forest saw 120 species in 2014 of the total 250-odd species recorded in the capital. “The habitat is now declining, and surrounding wetlands have completely dried up due to uncontrolled pressure from human beings. Interference and overuse of natural resources due to increase in population has decimated the once rich habitat,” Roy said. Of the 44 species — 35 are terrestrial birds, nine are water or water-dependent birds and 10 species are migratory winter birds, he said.
Threatened birds too disappeared from the forest in the last three years. Species such as painted storks were spotted in 2013; ferruginous ducks, painted storks, oriental darter and the greater spotted eagle were seen in 2014; painted storks and black-tailed godwit were seen in 2015.
A senior official of the forest department said, “We are taking steps to preserve the ecology of the area. The preservation of forests is a prime concern for the government. Apart from providing habitat to species of birds, they are also the lungs for the capital.”
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