RANCHI: Bird watchers and environmentalists have raised an alarm over the rapidly plummeting bird count at the Tilaiya reservoir in Koderma district. The number of endangered birds which nest around the picturesque reservoir have shrunk from thousands to just a few hundreds.
Ornithologists and bird watchers attribute the dwindling numbers to unabated
poaching,
illegal trade and destruction of nesting sites.
When asked about the reason behind dwindling numbers, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Lal Ratnakar Singh said he will comment only after going through the final report.
Northern pintail, red crested pochard, bar-headed geese and the common coot are the most sighted birds in and around the reservoir. However, bird watchers surveying the area for the annual
Jharkhand Water-bird Census documented just 75 northern pintails, 400 common coots, 1,600 red crested pochards and 500 bar-headed geese. The figures stand in contrast to the 2015 edition of the survey where 2,500 bar-headed geese, 2,000 northern pintails, and 2,000 common coots were counted at the reservoir.
The reservoir, which was identified as an important bird area (IBA) by the Union ministry of environment and forests in 2017, is the second biggest nesting site of resident and migratory birds in Jharkhand after the Udhwa Bird Sanctuary in Sahibganj.
"The white-necked stork was not to be seen in Tilaiya. No birders documented it this year," Indrajeet Samanta, a member of the
Indian Bird Conservation Network and a participant in this year's survey, told the TOI. "Though the final census is yet to be published, the bird count in Jharkhand has come down drastically. Just 87 birds were documented in Kansjhor reservoir in Simdega this year," Samanta added.
Jharkhand's 25 prominent water bodies are home to 26 species of resident birds. More than 50 different species of migratory birds visit the state and nest across water bodies every year. The presence of migratory and local birds adds to the reservoir's draw as a tourist hotspot for tourists of Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha in the winter months.
