More water birds, species recorded at Najafgarh wetland
Gurugram Fifty-four species of waterfowl, including six species red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), were recorded in a census at the Najafgarh jheel in Gurugram. The number is up from 31 species, including four red-listed birds, recorded in last year’s census.
The population has also gone up from 1,679 birds in 2019 to 9,453 birds this year.
Conducted on January 4, as part of the 2020 Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) by Netherlands-based Wetlands International, the census also recorded healthy populations of winter migratory birds. A report shared with HT by TK Roy, an ecologist and Delhi state coordinator for the AWC, notes that 1,337 specimens of bar-headed geese were recorded, besides 1,057 specimens of gadwall, 3,738 Eurasian coots, 684 common teals and 780 northern shovelers, all of which migrate from Central and Northern Asia.
Moreover, six of the IUCN’s red-listed species — the black-headed ibis, black-tailed godwit, common pochard, painted stork, greater spotted eagle and oriental darter — were spotted.
Of these, the darter, stork and ibis are resident species, which birders said are commonly seen at Najafgarh throughout the year. The remaining three are winter migrants.
Roy said, “We have been conducting such censuses at wetlands across India. Najafgarh is one of the few places where we noted an increase in population and diversity of species this year. At other wetlands, such as Delhi’s Okhla, the numbers have actually dropped.”
The AWC 2020 census for Najafgarh also reports an increase in the diversity of species, compared to AWC 2018, wherein 40 species of birds were recorded (including one IUCN red-listed species), with a total population of 3,091 birds.
While Roy did not provide a definitive hypothesis behind these observations, he added that the numbers bode well for the health of Najafgarh’s ecosystem, which can provide an ideal feeding and roosting habitat for birds. “The region also saw a healthy monsoon in 2019, which would have directly impacted the quality of habitat, making it attractive to more birds,” he said.
According to Pankaj Gupta of the Delhi Bird Foundation, the AWC census numbers are not surprising. “We conducted our own count at Najafgarh on January 13, and recorded a little over 130 species, including the ones mentioned in the AWC census report, which only looks at water birds. Our count was higher because we do not restrict ourselves to waterfowls.”
Gupta also did not speculate on why the population and numbers have increased this year. “To make such a statement requires more scientific study. At the moment, all we have are census counts, which need to be further analysed. On the whole, I would say that there is no immediate cause for alarm except a decline in flamingo populations at Najafgarh over the last five years. This is, again, something which needs more investigation.”
Both Roy and Gupta drew attention to the lack of official wetland status for Najafgarh, which has been pending for the past four years, when a National Green Tribunal order called for the water body’s protection. “An official wetland status is imperative for the site so that conservation and scientific inquiries will get a boost,” Gupta said.
