This year more nests of residential birds have been sighted at the Bhitarkanika National Park during the ongoing monsoon season than last year, said Rajnagar Mangrove (Forest) and Wildlife Division DFO Bimal Prasanna Acharya.
This year, the forest officials sighted 21,920 nests in Bagagahan and Mathadia under Bhitarkanika National Park where as last year 20,507 nests were sighted in the areas.
The avian species have chosen 2,298 mangrove trees for nesting and breeding this monsoon season as per the monsoon bird census report of 2016, which was carried out by the officials from August 22 to 28.
According to DFO Acharya, this year 10,969 more birds, including adults and chicks, have been sighted at Bhitarkanika than last year.
Notably, an estimated 96,299 monsoon birds had thronged Bagagahan and Mathadia forests in 2015.This year 10 out of 11 types of bird species, which generally throng Bhitarkanika every monsoon, have thronged the national park. The residential bird species sighted in the park this year include Asian Open Bill stork ,Grey Heron, large Egret, Intermediate Egret, little Egret, Night Heron, Purple Heron , Darter, little Cormorant and White Ibis.
The forest officials carried out the census through individual counting by going near the trees. This time the monsoon bird species have laid their eggs in mangrove species of Guan, Sundari, Sinduka, Bani and Jagula. Basically, most of the nests were sighted in Guan and Bani trees. This time, the Open Bill Storks accounted for 70 per cent of the birds.