BHOPAL: There are more than 50,000 birds of 180 species present in and around the Upper Lake preserved under the Bhoj Wetlands project.
The Bhoj Wetlands Winter Bird Count concluded with the release of results that mentioned that several birds of endangered species were also present in the Bhoj Wetlands area. These birds include cranes, painted storks, greater spotted eagles, oriental darters, black-headed ibises and more.
Bhoj Wetlands was divided into 5 zones for the sake of counting of birds in different sessions. These zones include Bishankhedi to Mughalia Chhap, Bamhori, Borwan to the Lower Lake, Borwan Bairagarh and Van Vihar National Park.
More than 200 bird-watchers participated in the activity that was conducted from January 31 to February 2. Besides Van Vihar National Park, other organisations that participated in the counting process include Bhopal Birds, Madhya Pradesh Eco-Toursim Development Board and VNS Nature Saviours.
Kamalika Mohanta, director, Van Vihar, acted as the source person, while Ashok Kumar Jain, assistant director, Van Vihar, Sangeeta Rajgir and Mohd Khaliq of Bhopal Birds, Manoj Sharma from the Regional Science Museum, Paradeep Nandi and Aknit Malviya played an important role in the activity.
Migrated birds, such as the red-crested pochard, common pochard, black-headed ibis, red-naped ibis, northern shoveler, common teel, red-headed bunting, purple heron, Siberian stone chat, spotted bill duck and several others remain the main attraction during the counting activity.
