Over 78,000 winged visitors in Pong Dam lake this year

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 25

A large number of bar-headed geese have once again flocked the Pong Dam lake, an international wetland area, in Kangra district this year. As per data collected from wildlife officials, a total of 35,090 bar-headed geese have reached the lake.

A total of 78,716 migratory birds have been recorded till date at the Pong Dam lake, including 7,440 common coots, 7,308 northern pintails, 7,175 common teals and 3,857 little cormorants.

The concentration of bar-headed geese in the international wetland area has helped the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revise the data on its population in the wild. About two years ago, the bird was kept in the endangered species list by the IUCN and its population in the wild was estimated at about 60,000.

Last year, about 43,000 bar-headed geese were recorded at the Pong Dam wetland. After the data was submitted by the Wildlife Department of the state, the estimate regarding its population in the wild was revised to above 1 lakh and it was placed in the least concern variety by the IUCN.

In the census conducted by the Wildlife Department in collaboration with experts from Great Britain and Bombay Natural History Society last month, an estimated population of about 71,000 bar-headed geese was recorded in the Pong Dam wetland.

When contacted, DS Dadwal, Assistant Conservator for Wildlife in Dharamsala, said this was the largest number of bar-headed geese to have been recorded anywhere in India. He had been studying migratory birds visiting the Pong Dam wetland for more than a decade.

With this estimate, the number of bar-headed geese in the wild was likely to be revised further by the IUCN, he said. He said the number of bar-headed geese in the Pong Dam wetland had increased this year due to ideal conditions created for their habitat.

Dadwal said the Wildlife Department had implemented strict restrictions on sowing in fields in certain areas along the Pong Dam lake. Due to this, a large number of bar-headed geese that fed on grass and rested on islands in the lake stayed on instead of migrating further, he said.

He said bar-headed geese that migrated from Tibet, Mongolia and Russia in winter, could be found in wetlands in South India. Over the years, their population had been increased in the Pong Dam wetland, he further said.

This indicated that the birds were finding conditions in the Pong Dam lake ideal for spending winter months and were not migrating further, Dadwal said. His book on flora and fauna of the Pong Dam wetland — “Avi Fauna of Pong” — provided detailed data on migratory bird species in the lake.

The rare species that had been mentioned in the book include lesser white-fronted geese, greater white-fronted geese, whooper swans, great knots, ruddy turnstones, Indian skimmers, water rails, black-necked storks, water pipits and buff-bellied pipits.