254 species recorded in Delhi winter bird survey

The bird count was carried out on December 1, covering major wetlands and birding habitats across NCR

A week after around 100 birders set out across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on Sunday to take part in the Delhi Winter Bird Count 2024, experts who participated in the exercise on Monday said that they have recorded 254 species in and around the national capital.

Little gull. (Photo: Arvind Yadav)

The bird count was carried out on December 1, covering major wetlands and birding habitats across NCR. Though the diversity of the birds remained fairly high — birders spotted several rare species such as the Eurasian griffon, the little bunting, and the slender-billed gull — experts said that this time, the overall density of migratory birds appeared to be much lower than usual, possibly because of the delayed onset of winter this year.

“Usually, the number of bird species spotted at this time of the year fluctuates between 230 and 250. Therefore, while the late onset of winters has impacted the total population of each wintering species, the diversity of wintering birds continues to be good for the season, and is comparable or even better than the previous years,” said Kanwar B Singh, one of the organisers of the count.

The count covered the entire length of the Yamuna from Wazirabad in north Delhi to the Okhla bird sanctuary. It also covered the downstream stretch to Noida Khadar, the Dhanauri and Surajpur wetlands in Greater Noida, the scrub forests of the Delhi Ridge, the Asola sanctuary, and adjoining forests in Mangar and Bhondsi. In Gurugram, both protected and unprotected wetlands like the Sultanpur sanctuary and Chandu-Budhera region were covered.

“We also covered the Najafgarh Jheel stretch within Delhi and city gardens of the region,” Singh said.

Among the rare sightings in NCR was that of the little bunting at Sultanpur — the first time that the bird has been spotted in the region.

Birder Pankaj Sharma said the bird comes from eastern Europe and migrates towards northeast India, southern China, and further towards southeast Asia. “While it can be seen quite frequently in northeast India, seeing it below the Himalayas is fairly rare. This is the first record for our region,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Eurasian griffon was sighted at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. Birder Sohail Madan, who spotted it, said the vulture is a rare migratory bird which was last seen in NCR in 2022, around Surajpur and Mangar Bani. In Delhi, the vulture was last spotted in 2021 at the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, and before that, in 2019 at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Singh said the slender-billed gull was sighted at Chandu-Budhera in Gurugram. “Though seen in NCR before, it is a coastal bird and rarely seen so far inland,” he said, adding that there were around 50 bird species which were only spotted at one habitat — once again making them fairly uncommon sightings to the NCR.

These included the black bittern, white-tailed iora, the great crested grebe, Cetti’s warbler, and the eastern Orphean warbler, among others.

Singh said that though not recorded during the count, the region has made other uncommon sightings over the past two days. This included the marbled teal at Sultanpur, a little gull at Chandu Budhera, and a common ringed plover also at Chandu Budhera.

“These were sightings made after the count, but is also a good sign, as the sightings have been made at a time when there has been a dip in temperature. This signals that the winter is upon us and is leading to some species moving towards the region,” he said, adding that while this is believed to be only the third ever sighting of the little gull in NCR, there have been only two or three sightings of the marbled teal in NCR in the last decade.

“The common ringed plover is also a fairly rare sighting,” he said.

Another 110 species were spotted at five or more locations, indicating they were well spread across NCR. This included the wood sandpiper, Eurasian wigeon, striated babbler and the purple heron, among others.