“Species Richness” Survey: Migratory waterbirds: Encouraging trend of species diversity recorded

What is the News?

Every year, the Wildlife Department of Punjab conducts a waterbirds census exercise in six major wetlands which include Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary, Ropar Conservation Reserve, Harike Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanjli Wetland, Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve and Ranjit Sagar Conservation Reserve.

However, the census could not be done this year on account of dense fog conditions. Instead, a “Species Richness” Survey was conducted by the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation with support from the WWF-India.

Note: Every winter, the birds make their way to India through the Central Asian Flyway, which covers a large continental area of Europe–Asia between the Arctic and the Indian Oceans.

What are the key findings from the Species Richness Survey?

91 species of waterbirds were recorded from the six protected wetlands.

The waterbird count was highest in the Harike Wildlife Sanctuary followed by the Keshopur–Miani Community Reserve, Ropar Conservation Reserve and Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary.

Wetlands like Keshopur–Miani and Shallpattan are the only wetlands in Punjab to host the migratory population of common crane and the resident population of the Sarus crane.

The Ropar and Nangal wetlands host the three migratory water species of the family Podicipedidae i.e., black-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe and Greater Crested Grebe along with the resident Little Grebe.

Eurasian Coot was one of the most common water birds spotted in almost all protected wetlands of Punjab during the survey.

Source: This post is based on the article “Migratory waterbirds: Encouraging trend of species diversity recorded” published in The Hindu on 11th Mar 2022.