Kendrapara: With the arrival of monsoon, thousands of birds have started arriving at Mathadiha, Suajora and Bagagahan in Bhitarkanika National Park for breeding and nesting.
According to forest officials, Mathadiha and Bagagahan are the favourite nesting and breeding places in Bhitarkanika for monsoon birds. The sprawling park wears a colourful look during the rainy season. The dense mangrove vegetation and its serene pollution free atmosphere attract thousands of domestic winged visitors every year.
Basically, 11 types of birds — bill stork, little cormorant, intermediate egret, large egret, little egret, purple heron, grey heron, night heron, darter, white ibis and cattle egret — throng the park for nesting and breeding during monsoon, Bimal Prasanna Acharya, DFO of Rajanagar mangrove (forest) and wildlife division, said.
The birds select mangroves for building nests in guan, sundari, sinduka, bani and jagula trees. This time, intermediate egret, large egret, little egret, darter, cormorant and open bill stork have been sighted at the park. These birds generally come in large numbers to Bhitarkanika and the nesting process gets over by the end of November.
Darter, grey heron and purple heron start breeding early and often chicks are seen during August, whereas open bill stork and white ibis are among the late breeders with the young seen during September, forest officials said.
Open bill stork forms 60 per cent of the total nesting population. The bird prefers to nest on the top of guan tree whereas the lower most branches are preferred by smaller birds like little cormorants.
Last year, forest officials had sighted 21,956 nests in Bagagahan and Mathadia heronry within Bhitarkanika in the monsoon season. An estimated 104,490 birds, including 43,912 adults and 60,578 chicks, were spotted at Bagagahana and Mathadia by forest personnel during the monsoon bird census that was carried out for a week from August 26 to September 1, 2017.
PNN
