A little rare and globally endangered bird species ‘Jerdon’s Babbler’ that managed to evade being viewed by humans for the past 14 years was clicked in the buffer zone of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).
“It was during grassland surveys for avifauna along the river Sharda in the buffer zone of DTR that we saw four individual birds and were able to capture one in camera -- a confirmation of the species’ presence and indication there must be more of them in the riverine grasslands of the Himalayan rivers of the region,” said researchers Kaushik Sarkar and Pravar Mourya from The Habitats Trust (THT) who are working with forest department staff of the DTR.
Lalit Kumar Verma, field director of DTR said, “Riverine grasslands are critical for biodiversity and ecological processes such as carbon sequestration. And such discoveries make it significant to conserve terai grasslands from human-induced activities.”
The birds were spotted near Dhanara Ghat in the Bailaha Village and Madraiyya Machaan a tourist spot in DTR.
Its distinct sound was first recorded but the researchers could not spot it. Later they could capture it in a picture. Jerdon’s Babbler lives in small flocks in pair in high/long grasslands, which are becoming less every year.
{{/usCountry}}Its distinct sound was first recorded but the researchers could not spot it. Later they could capture it in a picture. Jerdon’s Babbler lives in small flocks in pair in high/long grasslands, which are becoming less every year.
{{/usCountry}}Jerdon’s Babbler was found in Haryana and Punjab along the Sutlet River, but with depleting areas of high grassland, 95% of their count in India is found in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh only. Globally the count is claimed to be near 10,000 and out of this approx 30% is in India, said Kaushik Sarkar, an executive at THT.
The finding indicates that the U.P. population of Jerdon’s Babbler is of high conservation value. The vulnerable species is highly locally restricted along its distribution in India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is only found in riverine grasslands.
The habitat of Jerdon’s Babbler is grasslands of Saccharum spontaneum (locally called Kaans grass) and other tall grasses. The photograph was captured in a similar mosaic grassland habitat dominated by Kaans interspersed with a grass called Imperata cylindrica (locally called Meyari).
Sarkar said, “The biggest threat for Jerdon’s Babbler is habitat loss. Many grasslands in Terai have been converted to agriculture and infrastructure. Annual floods and the conversion of riverine grasslands into scrublands of Tamarisk trees shrink the habitat further. We should not only conserve the existing grasslands but also encourage more research in the areas to find hotspots for the species’ occurrence in U.P.”