Bird ringing programme at Pong Dam takes a hit due to bird flu

| | Chandigarh
  • 0

Bird ringing programme at Pong Dam takes a hit due to bird flu

Monday, 18 January 2021 | Nishu Mahajan | Chandigarh

The bird ringing programme, aimed at collecting information on bird’s migratory patterns has failed to take off at Pong wetland this year due to the outbreak of avian influenza-H5N1 in Himachal.

The bird ringing project was launched in Himachal in 2013 with an aim to collect information on bird’s migratory patterns, survival rates and monitor if any particular species show signs of decline. For this, the Forest Department had established a state-of-the-art bird ringing station at Pong wetland in Kangra district.

Bird ringing is done by clipping a bird with a small metal ring to study and understand the routes they use to fly, their migration patterns and resting sites. The metal ring with a unique alpha-numeric code is placed on the legs of birds.

Pong Dam Lake, which is known as migratory birds’ paradise hosts more than one lakh migratory birds every winter season. However this year, 4921 birds have till now died at Pong wetland due to the outbreak of bird flu.

Since the detection of bird flu at Pong Dam on January 4, all kinds of human and livestock activities have been banned in one km area around the lake which is declared as alert zone (red zone) while the next nine km area has been declared a surveillance zone.

The annual avian census conducted at Pong Dam in January and February has also been suspended for now.

“Due to the outbreak of bird flu, the bird ringing programme could not begin at the Pong wetland this year. The ringing process usually begins in January after the arrival of migratory birds at the water body,” said Rahul Rohane, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Division, Hamirpur while talking to The Pioneer.

21 carcasses of migratory birds of different species were reported on Sunday taking the total toll to 4921 birds due to avian influenza at Pong Lake. The wetland area is currently under surveillance and the rapid response teams are carrying out sanitization exercise in the affected area, he said.

The situation is improving as mortality of birds has declined in the last five days but the wetland area would remain closed till further orders, he added.

Giving details of the bird ringing programme, Rohane said that 113 birds including both migratory and native species were ringed at Pong wetland area in 2020 before the Covid-19 had hit the country while 645 birds were ringed in 2015.

The main objective of the bird ringing programme is to collect long-term ringing data during each spring and autumn migration period, to increase knowledge about the migration of birds, collect data to know about population changes in birds, and to improve conservation status of native species, he said.

The Pong Dam, also known as Pong Reservoir, Pong Dam Lake and the Maharana Pratap Sagar is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.

The annual winter bird counts each January since 1999 have recorded totals of between 70,000 and 150,000 wetland birds descending on the lake.  During the January 2020 census exercise, as many as 1.15 lakh birds of 114 species were recorded at the Pong Dam Lake. The figure included 1,04,032 migratory waterfowls of 60 species, 10,377 resident water birds of 30 species and 1,292 birds of 24 other local species.

According to a report of birds ringed at Nagrota Surian at Pong wetland, 369 birds were ringed in January 2015, of which 36 (9.8 percent) were re-trapped in February 2016. No foreign-ringed bird was trapped.

The report stated, “Till date, the most-trapped species have been the Siberian race of Common Chiffchaff (59), a long-distance migrant, followed by two resident species, Yellow-eyed Babbler (54) and Oriental White-eye (36), although the latter is also a winter visitor from higher altitudes. The highest re-trapping rates of resident birds were for several babbler species and the Jungle Prinia. Other resident species re-trapped were single individuals of Pied King?sher, Asian Barred Owlet and Long-tailed Shrike.”

Sunday Edition

CAA PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

24 March 2024 | Kumar Chellappan | Agenda

CHENNAI EXPRESS IN GURUGRAM

24 March 2024 | Pawan Soni | Agenda

The Way of Bengal

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

The Pizza Philosopher

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

Astroturf | Lord Shiva calls for all-inclusiveness

24 March 2024 | Bharat Bhushan Padmadeo | Agenda

Interconnected narrative l Forest conservation l Agriculture l Food security

24 March 2024 | BKP Sinha/ Arvind K jha | Agenda