Bird census at Harike to study pollution impact on avian visitors as well

AMRITSAR: The bird census at Harike wildlife sanctuary would not only help know the count of migratory birds arriving there from various countries, but would also reveal the impact of pollution in Harike water body -- caused by industrial effluents and city sewerage released in Satluj river at the confluence of Beas and Satluj in the sanctuary -- on the arrival of migratory birds in the 86 sq km sanctuary area, which touches Tarn Taran, Ferozpur and Kapurthala districts.

The 2-day census would be held on January 23 and 24 in cooperation with experts from Bombay Natural History Society, Worldwide Fund for Nature, Chandigarh Bird Club, Himachal Pradesh wildlife department and Punjab tourism department, divisional forest officer M Sudhagar told TOI on Monday.

"Technically, the census would be completed in one day, from morning to evening, but to be on the safer side, they had scheduled it for 2 days. A team of nearly 50 persons, including 20 experts, would conduct the census," Sudhagar said, adding that they were expecting 10% less arrival of birds, compared to last census held in 2010.

There could be several reasons for the low count of birds including temperature change and water pollution in the sanctuary. For the first time, there would be official count of endangered Jerdon's babbler (Chrysomma altirostre scindicum), which were spotted in the sanctuary for the first time recently. During the last census, species like Gargeny, Black Bellied Tern and European Spoonbills were spotted for the first time in the sanctuary area, he said.

Sudhagar said they have arranged 12 wooden boats for the experts and volunteers, who would be using binoculars, besides cameras, to record the count of birds and identify specific spots. The data would be pooled in, analyzed and then published, he added.