Bhubaneswar, Feb 2 (UNI): About 10.5 lakh waterbirds representing 105 different species were sighted during the Fifth Annual Flora & Fauna Survey 2022 in Chilika lake, the largest lake along the east coast of India.
This compares favourably with the waterbird census conducted by Chilika Wildlife Division in the first week of January that had reported 10,36,220 birds of 103 species.
The lake is a unique assemblage of marine, brackish and freshwater ecosystems with estuarine characters and is one of the hotspots of biodiversity and shelters a number of endangered species listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species.
The lake is an avian grandeur and the wintering ground for more than one million migratory birds and is a Ramsar site.
The annual monitoring was done on Tuesday by 28 teams of nearly 120 personnel from Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and Odisha government officials. CDA sources said the Nalabana sanctuary itself reported 2,86,929 individuals representing 75 species.
The most common migratory ducks found in Chilika were Northern Pintail, Gadwall and Eurasian Wigeons, each being more than 1.5 lakh. The mud flats of Nalabana and other regions of Chilika are now exposed as a result of the significant drop in water level.
CDA also conducted a census that showed as many as 156 Irrawaddy dolphins were sighted in the Chilika.
Irrawaddy dolphin is the flagship species inhabiting the lake. The present distribution range of this species is only in Asia, from Chilika to Indonesia.
Irrawaddy dolphins in India are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, ClTES (Appendix-l), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
The annual population estimation survey of the Irrawaddy dolphin has been conducted by CDA since 2003.
The dolphins are colonising new areas of Chilika Lagoon and this gives hope for this endangered mammal.
In 2013, altogether 152 dolphins were sighted in the Chilika that rose to 162 in 2021. Official sources said 156 dolphins were directly sighted during the monitoring and the range inferred from the yearlong monitoring by CDA.
