latest bird census surprized the Bihar people. The department of forests, environment and climate change in collaboration with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) conducted a servey in January-February this year. That reports say as many as 205 species of birds were found in Bihar state region.
In comparison to 2022 census, only 202 species of birds were found in the state. This year, the counting exercise was done in 26 districts of the state, covering 76 wetlands, comprising three river systems, Kosi, Gandak and Ganga.
Hindustan Times published this news in their Website. According to this, The survey team also visited nearly two dozen reservoirs, fishponds, freshwater marshes and freshwater lakes. In the 2022 birds census, 68 wetlands in 23 districts of the state were covered.
Since 2022, the annual census of birds has been carried out by the government to review the status of birds and their habitats and also to sensitise people about the conservation of birds.
The list of bird species recorded during the counting includes water birds, wetland dependent birds and land birds.
PK Gupta, chief wildlife warden, state forests says “Bihar has been home to many bird species. But a much greater variety of species of migratory birds have been visiting the wetlands located in our state during winters. The wetlands located in districts like Jamui, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Vaishali and even in Patna have been known for drawing large varieties of migratory birds. But the data regarding the kind of species coming here, was available earlier,” PK Gupta, chief wildlife warden, state forests,
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“But the department realised that it needed to have an exact status of birds and their habitats to make any conservation plan, And the result has been encouraging. Altogether 205 species have been witnessed this time while in 2022, there were only 202 species,” the chief wildlife warden said.
Sathiaselvam P, in-charge of the state unit of Bombay Natural History Society, said that a wider area was covered during the census 2023. “And among the districts covered in this exercise, Bhagalpur and Jamui were found to have maximum species of water birds while Begusarai had maximum number of land bird species,” he said.
Discussing the background of the census of birds, the BNHS official said that in 2018, the union government created ‘India’s National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds and their Habitats’ and the states were also asked to take steps in this direction.
“Bihar has been the first state to act in this direction. The forest department signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bombay Natural History Society in 2020 and set up a Bird Research Ringing, Monitoring and Awareness Centre at Bhagalpur,” he added.
Under a long-term monitoring plan, the department realised the need of exact numbers of species of birds and their habitats in the state, he added.