With the arrival of monsoon, thousands of residential birds have started arriving at Bagagahan and Mathadiha within the Bhitarkanika National Park for breeding and nesting.
According to Kanika Forest Ranger Akhaya Kumar Nayak, Bagagahan and Mathadiha are the favourite nesting and breeding places in Bhitarkanika for the monsoon birds. It generally wears a colourful look as rainy season sets in. The dense mangrove vegetation and its serene pollution free atmosphere have once again been attractions for thousands of residential winged visitors.
Basically, 11 types of residential birds, which throng Bhitarknaika every year for nesting and breeding during the monsoon time, are open bill stork, little cormorant, intermediate egret, large egret, little egret, purple heron, grey heron, night heron, darter, white ibis and cattle egret ,informed Nayak.
The avian species selectively use mangrove trees for constructing nests such as guan, sundari , sinduka, bani and Jagula.
This time, more than eight types of residential birds of nearly 20,000 population have started thronging the park. The residential birds which were sighted include intermediate egret, large egret, little egret, darter, cormorant, white ibis, night heron, cattle egret and open bill stork.
Every year, with the onset of monsoon season, these birds generally come in large numbers and the nesting process continues till November. Darter, grey heron and purple heron start breeding early and often chicks are seen during the month of August, whereas open bill stork and white ibis are among the late breeders with young seen during the month of September.
According to the Bhitarkanika official sources, open bill stork forms 60 per cent of the total nesting population. Open bill stork prefers to form its nest in guan tree and the avian species forms its nest on the top canopy whereas the lower most branches are preferred by smaller birds like little cormorants.
Notably, the forest officials last year had sighted 20,507 nests in Bagagahan and Mathadia. While 8,041 nests were sighted in Mathadia, 12,466 numbers of nests were spotted at Bagagahan last monsoon. An estimated 96,437 monsoon bird species, including 41,014 adult birds had thronged Bagagahan and Mathadia forests.