To the bird lovers’ cheer, a common merganser was sighted for the first time in the Baleswar Wildlife Division during waterfowl census undertaken recently at laxmipada Chada near the Subarnarekha river mouth.
The mergansers are commonly seen at the waters sources in ladakh, Mangolia, Pakisthan and Tibbet. During winter, they fly to far away places like North Indian rivers, lakes and fast flowing streams. It was never seen in any of water sources in Odisha earlier. The bird spotted at laxmipada was of 66 centimeter in size.
Ornithologists Dr UN Dev and Bibhas Pandab of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun confirmed the bird as common merganser, a member of the duck family, said Baleswar DFO Harsha Bardhan Udgata.
While a merganser male has black colour in head and back, a thin neck, a pointed red bill and red legs, the female one bears refocus head with single pointed crest, Udgata said.
The census team comprised Biswajit Mohanty, Ranjit Pattnaik, Jayanta Mardaraj, Prasant Mardaraj, Anup Nayak, Ajay Das, PK Mallick and laxman Pradhan.