Six more Greater adjutant storks spotted in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: Rapid urbanisation, vanishing greens and water bodies have led to the disappearance of the threatened species, the Greater adjutant stork, which was once found in large numbers in the city. There are only 226 of them now, said bird watchers.

About 25 years ago, Bamunimaidan area of the city would be a thriving breeding ground, but not any more, said Moloy Baruah, president of Early Birds, a city-based conservation NGO.

"Till 2005, we could spot the birds flocking in large numbers atop the buildings of the Board of Secondary Education Assam and Assam Higher Secondary Education Council. Now we cannot find them," he added and stressed that there is a direct correlation between the vanishing breeding and roosting sites and their dwindling numbers.

Over the years, wetlands on which the birds feed, and tall trees where they build nests and roost, have disappeared. "The future of the Greater adjutant stork is bleak," said Baruah, who has have been counting the birds for more than two decades along with other nature volunteers.

On Wednesday, while doing an estimation of the bird numbers, Baruah said they found six more birds this year at five different parts of the city, taking their number up to 226 from 220 in 2018. The highest number of the Greater adjutant storks was 287 in 2002 and the lowest was 127 in 2011.

The birds were also counted in Dichial in Sivasagar district and they could spot only 25 birds. In Nagaon , 22 Greater adjutant storks were found and at Puthimari Suneswar in Kamrup district five birds were recorded.

"The count was done at Patbaushi in Barpeta district also. But to our astonishment, not a single Greater adjutant stork was spotted this time, whereas there used to a large population of this species in the area. In fact, for the last seven years, not a single bird was found in the area. This is a matter of concern," Baruah said.

As carrion-eaters, these scavenger birds play a significant role in keeping the environment clean. "We conducted the count on October 2 coinciding with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Swachh Bharat as part of our awareness campaign to conserve the species," he added.

Assam alone is home to 80% of the global Greater adjutant stork population, with 50% of the state population concentrated in the Brahmaputra valley. Kamrup district, including the city, used to have a sizeable population of these birds, which are in the 'endangered' category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.