During the annual bird census in Chillika Lake, more than 12 Lakh migratory birds were spotted termed as the highest ever bird count in the Chillika in the last two decades.
Under the Ramsar Convention and UNESCO World heritage site, Chilika Lake is first India’s wetlands of International. As per forest officials reports this year, Chillika detected 12, 04,351 migratory birds from across 111 species during the annual bird count in Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon- Chilika Lake. Last year around 10.70 Lakh number of birds was spotted and in 2019 around 10.47 lakh birds were counted at the lagoon.
The report further shows that this year out of the total bird population counted in Chilika as many as 38,475 birds flocked the wetland from local areas.
, Kedar Kumar Swain, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Of Chilika Wildlife informed that as compared to last year’s report the bird population in chilika has increased by 1.35 Lakh. Even in Nalabana also increased with 18,000 migratory birds and two new species of migratory duck– Falcated teal and Mallard duck– were spotted during the census in the Mangalajodi sector.
Earlier the annual bird census was conducted in five ranges under the chilika Wildlife division – Tangi, Balugaon, Rambha, Satapada, and ChilikaAs many as 21 teams comprising over 111 wildlife officials, experts, volunteers, and environmentalists were engaged in the exercise which began at 6 AM and concluded at around 12.30 PM.
Every year millions of migratory birds flock the Chillika Lake during the winter season. During the migratory season, the lagoon hosts birds from Russia, Mongolia, Siberia, Central, and Southeast Asia, the Caspian Sea, Ladakh, and the Himalayas every year during the season.
Image Source : Google
