Twenty-seven state forest department officials and 120 eminent bird watchers of the state will initiate a two-day bird census from February 4 at the large water-bodies like Nal Sarovar and Thol.
All preparations for the census have been done by the department.
PA Patel, District Forest Officer (DFO) said, "The bird census in the sanctuaries is a regular biannual exercise since 1992. Till 1996 the counting was done using the Unistage Stratified Random Sampling (USRS) system, but from 2000, Direct Actual Count system has been adopted."
According to the official, it is observed that the number of birds gets affected by the level of water in the water bodies. "If there is excessive water due to heavy rains, the birds' legs cannot find a landing, so they fly away in search of a suitable place. If it rains less and the water dries up early, no birds may turn up at the water-bodies. In such cases the timing of the census matters a lot. This year there is excess water," he said.
Around 111 species of different birds were spotted in the last bird census of 2010. This year, Flamingos and Pelicans are expected to have flown in from Pakistan. The 120 bird watchers group comprises doctors, advocates, wildlife activists, environmentalists. Patel added, "On Sunday morning at 4 am, the final counting will be conducted and the census will take place between 8:30 and 10:30 am."
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