91 bird species recorded at Sukhna Lake

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 12

To commemorate the 121st birth anniversary of Dr Salim Ali on November 12, Chandigarh Bird Club conducted a species count and water fowl census at Sukhna Lake and its surroundings.

During the survey, 91 species of birds were recorded. The number of water fowl was 696. One Osprey, 2 Peregrine Falcon, 3 Crested Serpent Eagle and 4 Northern Lapwings were also found.

The group members split into 3 teams. The first team comprising Rima Dhillon, Samrath Singh, Siyam Nagar, Jaideep Singh Grewal, Shobhana and Pranav Sharma surveyed the Sukhna nature trail and the back end of the lake.

The second team comprising Sarabjit Kaur, Aparajita Lobana, Bindoo Nangia, Simarjeet Singh, Vikas Sharma and Sukhwinder Singh took care of the Samriti Van area.

The third team comprising Mahesh Garg, Praveen Malhotra, Amandeep Singh Channa and Mitinder Sekhon, accompanied by a team of Punjab Forest Department headed by Kanwardeep Singh, counted the water fowl in the main lake.

The number of water fowl is comparatively lesser than earlier years. Only four pairs of Tufted Ducks were seen, which are found in fair numbers normally. Gadwal was also a few in numbers as were the Bar-headed Geese. The reason could be higher temperature in northern latitudes or smog, but nothing could be said with certainty.

The total number of species at 91 is encouraging keeping in mind the fact that many altitudinal migrants from Himalayas are yet to come in.