HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, March 17: Against the backdrop of wanton destruction of biodiversity and loss of habitat for wild animals due to increasing anthropogenic activities in the name of development, bird lovers in the state have something to cheer about with a marginal increase in the greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) stork population in the state. An avid bird watcher, Hiren Dutta, who has been conferred the title ‘Pakhimitra’ by the Zonal Research Centre of the AAU in North Lakhimpur, recently conducted a population survey of the species in the district on his own and found over 25 individuals, with four of them nesting atop a simul tree right in the middle of the town. Speaking to this correspondent, Dutta said that the number may be more than that as it is not physically possible for an individual to scan the entire length and breadth of the district.
Listed under the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) under criteria D1, the greater adjutant stork is one of the largest species of birds with a total wingspan of 250 cm and a height of about 145 to 150 cm, weighing 8 to 11 kg. The word adjutant is used to describe the gait it walks with, like a military officer. The Brahmaputra valley was well known as the natural habitat of the stork species greater adjutant known locally as hargilla (bone swallower) with a pouch connected to its air passage, and lesser adjutant (L. javanicus) storks (without a pouch), next only to Myanmar and Cambodia. The adjutant stork population dwindled due to numerous causes like destruction of habitat, felling of tall trees where it builds its nest, and increasing use of insecticides like Furadon and other toxic chemicals used by the farmers in their fields and tea gardens as measures of pest control. During 1994–1996, the population of the species was around 600. But the number must be almost double by now as Whitley Award winner Purnima Devi Burman told Hiren Dutta recently that there are 450 greater adjutant stork nests in Dadora region alone. And if one counts two birds in each nest, the number goes to 900 without counting the storklings. The IUCN assesses that the total number of the adult population of greater adjutant storks on August 8, 2023, is around 1360 to 1510.
Related Posts:
Some elderly residents recall a thriving stork population in Sivasagar and the adjacent marshlands of Saraguwa and Panidihing, a portion of which (8370.71 acres) was declared as Panidihing Birds Sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 on December 18, 1995. Till about three decades back, the adjutant storks were seen roaming in majestic gait over the large low-lying field and the swamps surrounding the area erstwhile known as Maharami Reserve. It was full of the feed the species cherished. Its feed is mostly crabs, snakes, dead animals, and even small ducklings, etc. Further, there were numerous tall trees in the area like simul, cotton, and satiana on the top of which the storks used to build their nests during the breeding season. But, due to gradual loss of habitat, the population of the species dipped very low till recently, the consistent conservation efforts of the bird lovers, NGOs, and the government reverted the trend.
