Odisha Begins Annual Counting Of Avian Species In Chilika Lake With ‘eBird’ App

Puri/Berhampur: The annual bird census at Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia, began on Thursday.

Visitors are barred from entering to ensure an undisturbed bird census. Boat associations have also been requested not to ferry visitors during this period.

The mid-winter survey of both migratory and domestic birds across the lagoon is being carried out by 21 teams, comprising five persons in each team headed by an expert, deployed by Chilika Wildlife Division, which will also be using the e-Bird app in the counting process for the first time for better documentation.

According to reports, the team members will download this online toolkit in their mobile phone and upload photos of the birds that they sight in five ranges – Chilika, Balugaon, Satapada, Tangi and Rambha – and other data required in the app, during the enumeration every hour. This will not only help them identify new species of birds, visiting the lake, but also have those documented in the app.

Thousands of winged guests, mostly from Russia and central Asian countries, visit Chilika Lake every winter to escape the biting cold in their homelands and in search of food. In the last survey, 11,31,929 birds of 184 different species were counted at the 1,100 sq km blue lagoon, spread across Puri, Ganjam and Khurda districts. These included 10,93,049 feathered guests of 105 various species, and 38,859 of 79 species of resident birds, sources said.