Kingfisher species sighted at Asan Conservation Reserve

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 19

A team of bird watchers comprising Dr Arun Kumar, a teacher at Dolphin Institute, and his student Yawar Manzoor Bhat have sighted some rare bird species. The duo have been studying various conservation issues related to the Asan Conservation Reserve in the western Doon Valley.

During 2014-15, the team witnessed a wide diversity of waterbird population at the conservation reserve. Many avian species were counted and observed in a big number at the reserve for the first time, indicating a positive interaction between the biodiversity and the habitat used by them. Some important events reported during the year were the congregation of a large number of bar-headed geese, painted stork and Pallas’s fish eagle that was sighted again.

Another rare species, stork-billed Kingfisher, was sighted at the right hand lake at the Asan reserve stalking its prey. In the past, the Forest Department had reported one or two occasions about its sporadic presence around the reserve. However, no official observation has been done. The earlier species counts and avian checklists by PC Tak and JP Sati (2003) and the avian checklist provided in the Asan Conservation Reserve Management Plan, as well as the bird counts by the Forest Department from 2009 to 2014 do not include this species. The authors sighted stork-billed Kingfisher for the first time in March 2015 and again in January this year. A male Kingfisher was also photographed by Yawar.

Bigger than the blue rock pigeon, attaining a size of 35 cm to 38 cm, the bird is common in plains from the foothills of the Indian Gangetic plains to the south in Kerala, all the way to Southeast Asia in Indonesia. It mainly feeds on fish, frogs, lizards, mice, young birds, crabs and water beetles.

This elusive bird is quite shy and prefers silent uninhabited surroundings. It is repulsive to any anthropogenic interference and always maintains a healthy distance from human inhabited areas. It has been included in the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species, thus increasing the number of bird species from the Asan reserve in the Redlist to 17. It also strengthens the claim to be declared as a Ramsar site under the criterion. It has already been declared an important bird area, besides being the first conservation reserve of India.