Treat for bird watchers at 3-day Gandhi Sagar survey

INDORE:

Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary

on northern border of

Madhya Pradesh

saw over 4,000 great cormorants and some of the most rarely seen species of vultures, bird watchers from four states during three-day survey at the sanctuary.


The landscape, spread over 360 square km, is being surveyed for the first time by 80 bird enthusiasts from Madhya Pradesh,

Gujarat

, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The entire area of the sanctuary has been divided into 23 non-intersecting line transects or trails on which teams of three or four persons are being sent.

“On Friday, a training session was held for all the participants in which they were told about method of conducting the survey. On Saturday, the survey was held twice a day in the morning and evening. The data will be collated on Sunday and a report will be prepared in coming week,” DFO Mandsaur Mayank Chandiwal said.

Forest dept is also planning to promote Gandhi Sagar

Wildlife

sanctuary as an eco-tourism spot
The sanctuary, which is known for its large population of vultures, also has a huge number of other birds, resident to dry deciduous forests and scrub forests. The entire area has many wetlands as well, in which otters were seen by birders which are rarely found around urban areas.

“The night stay has revealed presence of many nocturnal birds like Indian nightjar, Savannah nightjar and jungle nightjar through their calls. The area also has painted sandgrouse which is rarely seen,” said Ajay Gadikar, a bird watcher from Indore.

Among the vultures, white rumped and long billed are the critically endangered species whereas

Egyptian vulture

is under endangered list of birds in IUCN rating.

The forest department through this bird survey is also planning to promote Gandhi Sagar Wildlife sanctuary as an eco-tourism spot and for wildlife tourism. For the bird survey, forest department workers including rangers, deputy rangers, forest guards, and other security guards have been sent with the visitors to protect them from wild animals in the sanctuary.