KOLKATA: A rare sighting in south Bengal - that of a critically endangered yellow-breasted bunting in Baruipur wetlands - has left the birder community in the city in joy.
According to birding community, Sunday Watch, the population of yellow-breasted bunting is rapidly decreasing and now it has become a critically endangered species. "It's rarely seen in Bengal and is very rare in southern Bengal," said a post by the group on a social media platform recently.
Niladri Kundu, one of the birders who managed to click the winged wonder in Baruipur recently, also said its sighting is considered very rare. "As per reports, this bird is killed in China in numbers during passage migration. I had gone to Baruipur with my friend and fellow birder Biswanath Mondal on Wednesday and found a small flock with four to five yellow-breasted buntings," he said, adding that little and chestnut-eared buntings have also arrived in Baruipur this year.
Sujan Chatterjee of Birdwatchers' Society said it was earlier sighted in Dankuni wetlands. "In fact, we moved to save the wetland citing the importance of this bird. But it has not been sighted in south Bengal in the last 4-5 years. The habitat at Dankuni, too, has been destroyed. Its sighting, though, has been reported from Fulbari barrage in north Bengal," he added.
Siddhartha Dey of birding group LensnWings, said he had never heard of its sighting from this part of south Bengal. "Apart from Dankuni, some sporadic sighting reports are there from Basipota and Baidyabati, too," he added.
The yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) is a passerine bird in the bunting family emberizidae that is found across the Boreal and East Palearctic. Since 2004, it has been gradually upgraded to a status of critically endangered due to rapid drop in population sizes. It is migratory, wintering in south-east Asia, India, and southern China.
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