Chill out for Bird Watchers

Dasada Wild Ass Sanctuary, Dist. Surendranagar, Gujarat, India 

Distance: - 95kms

How to get there: - take Sarkhej – Sanand road and drive up to Zehnabad road

About the place: - the sanctuary is one of the last places on the earth where the endangered wild ass sub species Indian Wild ass Lives.

What to do there: -

Drive around along the open highway and you could spot several herds of the endangered wild ass. They are excellent runners.

Blackbuck Sanctuary, Velavadar, Gujarat, India

Distance: - 144 kms

How to get there: -Take Ahmadabad – Bhavnagar highway, turn left from Pipli-Fedara link Road.

About the place: - the sanctuary is populated by blackbucks, Blue Bull, antelope, wolves, jacket, Hyena, Wild Boars, jungle cat and a variety of birds as well. It has saline lands, high tidal mudflats and prosopis juliflora shrub land along with simple dense and sparse grasslands.

What to do there: - The roosting of harrier hawks at dusk is an incredible sight. More than 1,500 can be seen gathering at a single site. Meet the Kathi community members. Who like the Bishnoi community have protected the blackbuck.

Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, Dist. Surendranagar, Gujarat, India

Distance: - 54 kms

How to get there: -  Take Ahmadabad - Sanand Road and turn left from Sanand Crossroads. 

About the place: - the sanctuary is a Ramsar site and mainly comprises a huge lake of about 100 sq km and ambient marshes where you can see flamingoes, pelicans, geese, cranes, storks, ibises, spoonbills, wading birds, swallows, fishing eagles, osprey and harriers in great numbers during this season.

What to do there: - You can hire country boasts on the lake for bird viewing. For picnickers there are shacks on the islands. There are also two water parks nearby where children can have fun.

Thol bird Sanctuary, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India

Distance: - 26 kms

How to get there: - Hop on the SP Ring Road, turn left from Shilaj crossroads and head straight.

About the place: - the sanctuary is a shallow freshwater body, surrounded by marshes on the edge and scrubby forest flanking its sides. This place is home to more than 100 species of birds. Cranes, geese, flamingoes, pelicans, egrets, herons, spoonbills, ducks, whistling teals and many other migratory birds can be seen here.

What to do there: - while driving to the lake, keep a watch for the variety of birds which populate the pools and canals on the way.

Polo – Vijaynagar Forests

Distance 148 kms

How to get there: - Take Himmatnagar Highway, enter Idar – Ambaji road and turn right from Mathasur Tri-junction.

About the place: - the Ancient Polo city was built around the river Harnav, an ancient water body spoken of in the Puranas.

What to do there: - It’s a picnickers’ paradise. The view from the old palace and a royal tank is breathtaking. Remnants of Jain shrines are know the world over.

Courtesy:- Times of India. 

Diclofenac ban ups vulture count for first time in 20 years

The country’s vulture population has increased for the first time in two decades, after a catastrophic decline in their numbers by over 99%.

A research paper by scientists from Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS) shows that the number of vultures, once found across the country, increased marginally between 2011 and 2012.

The vulture population in India started to fall dramatically in the early 90’s. Around 95% of the scavenging birds were wiped out by 2003 and over 99% by 2008, and their numbers plunged from four crore in the early 80’s to under a lakh in 2011.

The study also warned that while the stabilization in numbers is encouraging, only a small number of vultures remain and they are still extremely vulnerable.

Diclofenac, a painkilling drug administered to cattle, was the culprit. Vultures which have a digestive system robust enough to even digest disease causing pathogens found in rotting meat of the dead – do not have a critical enzyme that breaks down diclofenac. They die of renal failure after eating carcasses of cattle administered the drug.

“It’s lethal for vultures if they eat an animal within 72 hours of it being given diclofenac,” said Vibhu Prakesh, lead researcher and deputy director, BNHS. A ban on diclofenac use across South Asia in 2006 led to a drop off, between 2007 and 2011, in the numbers of birds being killed by the used of the drug on livestock.

Environmentalists said the findings offered signs of hope for the critically endangered species once believed to be close extinction.

The three most common vulture species found in India are the long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus), also known as Indian vulture, the white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) and the slender billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris).

Prakesh said getting affix on the actual numbers was not immediately possible but the numbers are slightly higher than in 2011, when there were only 1,000 slender billed vultures (Gyps tenuirostris), 11,000 white backed vultures and 44,000 long billed vultures remaining in the country. The decline prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to put vultures on its list of ‘critically endangered’ species.  

Courtesy:- Times Of India