'Kaziranga Bird Conservation Festival' to begin in January 2024

The festival aims to honour and protect the diverse bird species in Kaziranga National Park. The festival invites bird lovers, nature enthusiasts, college students, and civil society to participate.

The event will draw renowned personalities, conservationists, and wildlife experts. The festival will feature live sessions, webinars, and a photography competition highlighting Kaziranga's rich birdlife.

The festival, centred around the theme "Conserving Birds using Citizen Science," aims to actively involve ordinary citizens in monitoring and protecting bird populations. This collaborative approach fosters a shared responsibility for conservation efforts.

Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve have conducted four consecutive water bird surveys from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022, recording a large assemblage of both resident and migratory water birds.

The 4th waterbird census in 2021-2022, recorded 93,491 water birds from 122 species across 52 wetlands in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. This is a significant increase from 2020, when the census recorded 34,284 birds, and 2018, when it recorded 10,412.

Sonali Ghosh, Director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, said that Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and its surroundings are rich in avian diversity, boasting 521 species, including 62 globally threatened and near-threatened species. The park is renowned for its significant water bird populations, particularly the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus).

"Water birds contribute to the diversity of other organisms, act as bioindicators of ecological conditions, control pests, and serve as sentinels of potential disease outbreaks. Consequently, water birds are considered key indicators of wetland health, and the wetlands in the Kaziranga landscape provide essential feeding, resting, roosting, and foraging habitats for these charismatic species," Sonali Ghosh said.

A substantial portion of the Kaziranga landscape comprises water bodies and grasslands, recognised as one of the most important bird areas in India.

"From October to February, migratory birds traverse different flyways, and Kaziranga, along with the broader Assam area, falls under two major flyways: the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Most migratory water birds arrive from temperate regions of Eurasia, the Tibetan Plateau, Mongolia, Russia, Siberia, and Ladakh. Wagtails are among the first group of migratory birds to arrive in this landscape," Sonali Ghosh said.

Notably, many migratory water birds, such as the Bar-headed Goose, Greylag Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Red-crested Pochard, Northern Lapwing, White Wagtail, Gadwall, Mallard, and Common Teal, have already been observed, along with some rare species like Baikal Teal, Greater White-fronted Goose, and Pied Avocet.`

Complementing these transient visitors are resident treasures, including the Spot-billed Pelican, Greater Adjutant, Lesser Adjutant, Pallas's Fish Eagle, Black-necked Stork, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Lesser Whistling Duck, Cotton Pygmy-goose, Oriental Darter, River Lapwing, Red-wattled Lapwing, and Bronzed-winged Jacana.

The Director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve further said that this year, the key difference is that enumerators and local youth volunteers will be involved in enumerating birds, making it one of the largest citizen science initiatives.

"The census will cover approximately 80 wetlands with more than 10-hectare areas spread over the entire Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve boundary, including Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, Biswanath Wildlife Division, and Nagaon Wildlife Division. Some wetlands outside the KNPTR boundary falling under the 1 km buffer area will also be included. Nature enthusiasts and students will have the opportunity to register as volunteers, with registration opening soon," Sonali Ghosh said. (ANI)