The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has commenced a study on the impact of last month’s cyclone Phailin on the migrating patterns of birds coming to the Chilika lake.
The study is being carried out in collaboration with the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and the wildlife wing of the Forest Department, BNHS Deputy Director S Balachandran said.
Plumed guests from far off places like Caspian Sea, lake Baikal, remote parts of Russia, central and south-east Asia, ladakh and Himalayas have started landing in the lake.
Around 1.20 lakh birds of different species have come to the Nalabana sanctuary and other parts of the 1,100-sqkm lake this year so far, forest department sources said.
last winter, around 8.77 lakh birds of 180 species visited the Chilika while 3.46 lakh of them were sighted at the 15.59-sqkm Nalabana, the sources added.