Nagpur: A total of 226 bird species were spotted at the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Maharashtra during a recent survey conducted as part of the ‘citizen science’ model to create a baseline data of bird diversity and density.
Some of the prominent bird species spotted in the reserve included Malabar pied hornbills, grey-headed fish eagle, emerald dove, Indian nuthatch, long-billed vulture, black eagle, great thick-knee, orange-headed thrush, white-rumped vulture and the Egyptian vulture, PTR’s deputy director Dr Prabhunath Shukla said in a release.
A detailed scientific report on the data collected during the survey, conducted from Jan 13-15, will be published soon, he said.
“A total of 6,000 individual entries were collated on the Kobo app and a total of 226 species of birds were recorded from 741 sqkm area of PTR spread in seven ranges, with the highest of bird diversity found in Chourbauli range (154 species), followed by east Pench (138 species),” the release said.
The inferences drawn from the data and ecological modelling will be used for management interventions of the reserve, it said. More than 125 volunteers from 11 states participated in the three-day survey.
“These sort of surveys are important for conservation awareness and bring citizens from the tiger-centric conservation and tourism to landscape-level conservation and tourism,” the official said. He claimed it was one of the largest bird surveys in central India.
A baseline checklist of 310 species in the Pench Tiger Reserve has already been created by the Central India Bird Academy, a Nagpur-based NGO, the release said.
The survey was conducted in collaboration with TINSA Ecological Foundation, an NGO involved in ecological research. The Pench Tiger Reserve is located across parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
