Gujarat-Bird Watcher's Paradise: Black- Necked stork numbers up in Khijadia Bird Sanctuary, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

Gujarat-Bird Watcher's Paradise: Black- Necked stork numbers up in Khijadia Bird Sanctuary, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

Black- Necked stork numbers up in Khijadia Bird Sanctuary, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

Forest Department officials claim to have spotted 49 black-necked storks in and around Khijadia Bird Sanctuary roughly 12km from Jamnagar in the recent statewide water birds’ census.
It is a significant increase from merely six storks (including two chicks) spotted in 2002 of the 49 black-necked storks, seven were chicks, officials said. Black-Necked storks are classified as “near threatened” in India.
“In the last decade, rare birds like black-necked storks have preferred the environs of Khijadia for breeding and their numbers have increased significantly” said R.D. Kamboj, Chief Conservator of Forests, Marine National Park, Jamnagar.
Kamboj said the birds’ population estimation in and around Khijadia was carried out in the last week of January 2012, when many winter visiting birds were expected.
The number of birds as well the species has increased in Khijadia over the last four years. “During the estimation exercise, a total of 87,681 birds of 185 species were recorded at the sanctuary in the 2008 census, 41,437birds belonging to 119 species were recorded,” Kamboj said.
However, Jaypalsinh Jadeja, an avid bird watcher and ornithologist, said that the population of black-necked storks is not limited to just Khijadia or the area surrounding it but are spread over an area stretching up to Dwarka, which is roughly 150 km from Jamnagar.
“It is a magnificent bird to watch and you will definitely find at least four to five black- necked storks at Khijadiya within one km range,” said Jadeja.
Khijadia Bird Sanctuary is a wetland area located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Kutch in semi-arid region of Jamnagar district. It encompasses freshwater lakes as well as brackish/marine wetland at a place. This complex of wet lands strategically falls on Indo-Asian flyway of migratory birds welcoming the birds coming from Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and their neighboring areas.
“The sanctuary also has birds like painted storks, darters, lesser flamingoes and Indian skimmers among others. The sanctuary has been proposed recently for inclusion as the wetland of international importance, a Ramsar site”, kamboj said.
Courtesy:- Times Of India

Photography of bustard now covered under Wildlife Act

The forest department has restricted the movement of people in the Naliya grasslands, a habitat of the Great Indian Bustard. This is because the movement of people was too close to the birds and created disturbance for them. Deputy conservator of forests, #Kutch (West) division, P.A. Vihol said that recently the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) issued guidelines for the #Great #Indian #Bustard Recovery Programme. The guidelines stated that “unethical photography during the breeding season often acts as a constant source of disturbance to the bustards. Incidents of such photography have been reported in Naliya grasslands. Due to the lack of legislative enforcement and protective measures in core breeding areas, such direct threats on Great Indian Bustard population continue unrestricted.” Vihol said, “In order to reduce such direct threats to this critically endangered and #Schedule-I species in NaIiya grasslands, particularly during their breeding season, we are issuing a caution note to the over- enthusiastic and unethical photographers to restrict their movements near the sanctuary areas, breeding and nesting grounds. The breeding season spans from April to October.” He cautioned that “any person found to be disturbing the birds during their breeding or even its nesting shall be prosecuted under the #Wildlife #Protection #Act 1972.” According to officials, the act was there in place, but no such caution was issued and people use to walk very close to the birds. Hence, a decision was taken to impose this caution note based on the guidelines of the MoEF. It has been mentioned in the guidelines that some grassland areas were ploughed during monsoon and post-monsoon season for planting better species of grass and their growth. Such activities also create disturbance to nests, eggs or chicks of the Great Indian Bustard, said a senior official, adding that the department will also impose a curb on such activities.

Courtesy:- Times Of India.

Horse show held at Rajkot, Gujarat, India 25th March 2012 (Part 2)

Horse show held at Rajkot, Gujarat, India 25th March 2012

State-level three-day Kathiawadi-Marwadi (KAMA) Horse show
A State-level three-day Kathiawadi-Marwadi (KAMA) horse show organised in association with Gujarat Police (Rajkot Range) and Animal Husbandry Department, saw nearly 300 participants take part in demonstrating their horsemanship skills.

Here mornings begin with chirping of house sparrows

Rajkot: House sparrows may have almost vanished from city homes, but Jasdan and near-by villages in Rajkot district begin with the sweet these little birds daily. Thanks to a dedicated campaign of a forest official in Hingolgadh, sparrows have started nesting in huge numbers near human habitats in Jasdan, Gondal and in the district. V.D. Bala, range forest officer, Hingolgadh Nature Education Sanctuary Launched Chakli no Malo (Sparrow’s nest) campaign in 2010 by distributing nests specially designed for these birds to maximum people possible. Over the last three years, Bala has distributed over 1.50 lakh artificial nests across the state, mainly in Saurashtra Region. He exhorted people to keep these nests at suitable places at their home and report to him whenever sparrows nest in it. Bala said once commonly seen flitting around the neighborhood; sparrows are in a real trouble and vanishing from the centre of many cities and rural areas. “Due to various disturbances, the population of this friendly bird has witnessed a free fall. Primary reasons behind this are non-availability of food (due to changing lifestyles), lack of nesting places in urban areas among others,” he added. Hitesh Patel, a resident of Gondal town, said, “I brought 2,000 such nests and distributed them in the town two years ago. Out 2,000 nests, sparrows nested in all most all the nests. Now, our morning begins with their chirping.” “The sparrows used to build their nests below tiled roofs of houses. With contemporary architecture making a clean sweep in cities, tiled roofs have become a thing of the past, and sparrows have lost their prospective nesting spots. But artificial nests are good options and we are hopeful that House Sparrow will be brought in urban areas too,” Bala said.
Courtesy:- Times Of India

Workshop on Nalsarovar wetland bio diversity, ecology

Environment experts from across the country and state will get together on Tuesday to discuss the ecosystem of Nalsarovar which is among the largest lakes in the state. Every year, over two lakh winged visitors visit this lake situated on the outskirts of the city. A one-day workshop has been organized by the forest department and the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER), which will focus on landscape and wetland ecology. According to forest department officials, experts and scientists from Bombay Natural History Society, World Wide Fund for Nature-India, Salim All Center for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore and Space Application Centre, Ahmadabad, among others, will take part in the workshop. GEER officials said that Nalsarovar has a well-known eco-system where large number of winter birds congregates. “Over the period of time, many individuals as well as institutes have explored various aspects of Nalsarovar including geology, hydrology, flora and fauna, dynamics of blo-diversity, socio-economic and various other factors affecting the ecology of Nalsarovar,” said GEER (Gujarat Ecological Education and Research) officials. Officials believe that it is necessary to aggregate scientific information to analyze It and incorporate the same for the management of this lake which is an important site for the migratory winged visitors that will be an aim of this workshop, Apart from the scientists and experts, bird watchers from Ahmadabad and all over the state will also be a part of the one-day workshop. Courtesy:- Times Of India.