5 vulture species spotted at 1 spot in Bhavnagar

AHMEDABAD: Wildlife conservationists have recorded an extremely rare sighting -that of five species of the critically endangered vultures scavenging together at one single location -near Mahuva in Bhavnagar district. The group witnessed 38 vultures that were feeding on carcass dumping site on the outskirts of Chhapariyali village near Jesar village, some 130km from Bhavnagar, on November 27.

Conservation experts say the event is historic as nowhere earlier have five species of vultures been spotted together at one place. The rare sighting is also the biggest achievement of multiple efforts to arrest the rapid decline of vultures in India, especially in places near Bhavnagar.

“It's an extremely encouraging sign for vulture conservation. We spotted white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture, Himalayan Griffon vulture, Eurasian Griffon vulture and Egyptian vulture at one place. Thirty-eight birds are a very good number considering their declining status,'' said, Divyaraj Shah, field biologist at Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)'s Vulture Safe Zone in Saurashtra.

Of the five species, the whiterumped vulture and Indian vulture, are critically endangered species.The Himalayan Griffon is a winder visitor to Saurashtra.

Viral Joshi, who works for BNHS's vulture programme, said the presence of comparatively large number of birds and five species together has proved that the area is safe for them and they are regular visitors to this spot.

Most importantly , the management of Chapariya panjrapol, a charitable trust-run animal shelter, does not use diclofenac in treatment of animals. Veterinary use of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac is a major cause of the drastic vulture decline.

As per the 2012 census, there were 1,043 vultures in Gujarat of which 102 white-rumped vultures were seen mainly on Mahuva-Rajula-Neshree coastal stretch of Bhavnagar alone.