At 75,000 winged guests, Harike wetland sees lowest arrival of birds in six years
TARN TARAN: The number of migratory birds arriving in the country’s second largest wetland, Harike, also known as Hari-ke-Pattan, has dipped around 18% over 2020 to 74,869. This year’s count is the lowest in six years.
In 2019, the count of migratory birds at the wetland was 1.23 lakh; 95,000 in 2018; 93,000 in 2017 and 1.06 lakh in 2016.
According to the bird census that Punjab forest department conducted in coordination with 20 participants from institutions such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Bird Clubs of Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Faridkot, and students from the Wildlife Institute of India, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjabi University, Patiala, and members from the Avian habitat and Wetland Society, 74,869 winged guests were recorded this year against 91,025 in 2020.
This year, 90 species were recorded, including three which remain unidentified. There were 94 species last year.
No signs and symptoms of bird flu were observed. Describing the reason behind the dip in count this year, Gitanjali Kanwar, coordinator, aquatic biodiversity, WWF India, said, “The arrival of the migratory birds at all wetlands of the state has seen a dip this year. There may be some issues at the low-temperature regions from where the birds arrive.”
Every year, lakhs of winged guests from Siberia, Russia, Kazakhstan and other low temperature regions start arriving at the bird sanctuary from midOctober up to December as lakes get frozen in their native regions. They stay here till March.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) Nalin Yadav said eurasian coot, greylag goose, bar-headed goose, gadwall and common pochard are species with the most number of birds in the facility.
Some species such as horned grebe, isabelline shirke, water pipit, peregrine falcon were also recorded, said the DFO, adding some species such as gadwall, red crested pochard, northern shoveler, northern pintail are present in greater number than last year.
The wetland and the lake were formed by constructing the headworks at the confluence of Beas and Sutlej rivers, in 1953. Since then, the 86 square km wetland has become home to rare varieties of birds.
The wetland, which remained closed for visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic since March, was opened in December 2020.