Nearthreatened water bird spotted in Manipur after 16 years
: Oriental white ibis, a near-threatened species of water birds, was sighted after 16 years on Saturday at Manipur’s Loktak lake and its associated wetlands.
Locally called Mayang Urok, the bird is also known as black-headed ibis, and is listed under the Near Threatened (NT) category in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
According to Indian Bird Conservation Network’s Manipur coordinator, RK Birjit, the bird was spotted during this year’s water bird census, which was conducted around 50 spots near the Loktak lake and its associated wetlands.
In the last few years, the number of birds spotted during the census has gradually decreased. In 2017, the census team spotted around 5,000 birds of 17 species around the lake in comparison to the sighting of 47,088 birds of 68 species in 2016. A total of 50,725 water birds, including migratory birds, belonging to 65 species were spotted during the census in 2015.
A member of the wading bird species of the ibis family, the Oriental white ibis was last spotted in the western hillside paddy fields of Imphal’s Bishnupur and Lamphelpat in 2002, Birjit said.
“This time, the water birds of Loktak seem be taking shelter at Keibul Lamjao (national park) and some pockets of a village on the periphery of the lake due to increased human presence and high water level of the lake due to hydro projects and fishing,” he added
IMPHAL