Odisha’s Hirakud See Marginal Rise In Bird Count, 20 New Species Spotted

Sambalpur: Hirakud Dam Reservoir recorded a marginal rise in bird count this year as the annual bird count conducted in three districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh and Jharsuguda in Odisha  put the number of winged guests at 3.42 lakh this winter against 3.16 lakh in the previous season.

According to the annual bird survey 2024 released on Friday, a total of 3,42,345 migratory birds of 113 species were counted by 31 teams of enumerators engaged in three districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh and Jharsuguda, divided into 21 sectors. They recorded 20 new avian species — including glossy ibis, black bittern, green sandpiper, common snipe, red-rumped swallow, white wagtail, Siberian stonechat, palm swift, common kestrel, chestnut bittern, brown crake, watercock (Gallicrex), blyth’s reed warbler, Indian thick-knee, short-toed snake eagle, Indian bushlark, knob billed duck, common green shank and zitting cisticola.

More birds were spotted in Odisha-Chhattisgarh border areas of Hirakud reservoir from Debrigarh Sanctuary. The highest congregation of 44,036 birds was found at sector 7 Launsara boarder areas of Odisha-Chhattishgarh in Bargarh, followed by 44,818 in sector 8 in the same area and 34,251 at sector 9 Jharpada in Jharsuguda district.

HIGHEST
Tufted duck – 52,000
Lesser whistling duck – 49,000
Red Created Pochard – 33,000

While 3,16,676 migratory birds of 108 species were counted at Hirakud during the mid-winter waterfowl census last year,  2,08,634 birds were recorded in 2022, the figure was 1,24,864 in 2021 and 97,899 in 2020.

Every year, thousands of exotic birds of different species migrate to the reservoir in November. The avian guests stay put for four months till March before flying back. The birds come from Caspian Sea, Baikal Lake, Mongolia, Central and South East Asia and Himalayan region to the reservoir due to the presence of large wetland.