Bird Count Increases in Chilika

Bhubaneswar: The bird count in Odisha’s Chilika has increased by a margin of over 57,000 as the number stood at 11,05,040 after this year’s bird reckoning, a Forest official said. “As man as 11,05,040 birds belonging to 184 species were enumerated this year.

Highest number of 4,06,308 birds of 102 species were counted in Nalabana,” said Divisional Forest Officer, Chilika Wildlife Division, Alok Ranjan Hota. Notably, the avian population in Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon was 10,47,968 last year.

The annual bird reckoning was carried out yesterday in all five ranges of Chilika Wildlife Division by Chilika Development Authority staffers, officials of Chilika Wildlife Division, representatives of World Wildlife Fund-India and Bombay Natural History Society.