On the 5th January of 2008, the state forest department kicked off its bird census in the Santragachi wetland as a first step to formulate a conservation policy for the state’s avian visitors.
The Santragachi wetland, spread over an area of approximately 12 ha, plays host to more than 5,000 migratory and resident birds now.
Nearly 5000 birds of various types like Lesser whistling Teal, Gadwall, Pintail, little Cormorant were identified. The number was much less than what used to be five years back, a lesser number of birds, like whistling duck teals, gargenys, shovlers, pin tail ducks, cotton teals and also local species like moor hens, were found. The overall figure shows, compared to the number of 2007, more birds visited the wetland this year. Railway officials and the district administration representatives were also present at the Santragachi jheel on that day.
Based on this census, a detailed plan will be laid to give the lake and its surroundings a face-lift by evicting encroachers and diverting the drainage and sewer outlets polluting the water body.
The census report will try to work out the migratory patterns of the birds. It will look into whether the number of birds visiting the state is increasing, the causes that make birds shift from one wetland to another and whether the birds were being disturbed in their locations.
Large number of migratory birds fly every year from different parts of the world to the wetlands in West Bengal. They start migrating to India from last week of November and stay here till the second week of March.
However, pollution and change in climatic patterns are not the only causes for the decrease in the number of avian visitors, experts feel. These birds are facing problems in their original habitat where vegetation is decreasing and population is increasing, said Kushal Mukherjee, secretary of Prakriti Sansad, a voluntary organisation.
A proposal is in the pipeline for declaring Santragachi Jheel as Conservation Reserve.
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