birding...

Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus ©Laurence Poh http://www.laurencepoh.com/

A Note On Birding In Assam

Assam, the land of mystique blue hills and valleys interspersed by hundreds of rivers and wetlands serve as a rare refuge for diverse life forms. The rare biological diversity of this beautiful province of the Indian subcontinent results from the unique conjunction of four different Biomes (Sino-Himalayan Temperate Forest, Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forest, Indo-Chinese Tropical Moist Forest and Indo-Gangetic Plain) in one place - Assam. This means that it harbours numerous endangered and endemic species of flora and fauna, which has made this little known area a Global Biodiversity Hotspot.

Assam is home to more than half of about 1200 varieties of avifauna recorded in the Indian subcontinent and also provides shelter to 3107 species of flowering plants, 192 species orchids, 185 species of reptiles, 190 species of mammals and hundreds of species of insects & butterflies.

Besides its widely visited protected areas, Bird life International has notified about 20 different Important Bird Areas in Assam and several others have already added to the proposed list.

Being associated with the GREEN GUARD (a non government organisation working in Assam for nature and natural resource conservation for more than a decade) I personally had the privilege to study birds in poorly known, and at times less-explored, areas of Assam. One such area is Deobali Jalah, (Jalah in Assamese stands for Wetland) which is a proposed Important Bird Area covering an area of around 15sq. km., and which lies between Latitude 26o15` N and longitude 92o32` E Nagaon district of Central Assam.

Studies undertaken so far in this particular area has enabled us to list as many as 109 species of birds including 10 types of Red Data Book species such as Asian Open bill Stork Anastomus oscitans, Lesser Adjutant Stork Leptotilos javanicus, Greater Adjutant Stork Leptotilos dubious, White Eyed or Ferruginous Pochard Aythya nyroca, Baer`s Pochard Aythya baeri, Red-necked or Red headed Falcon Falco chicquera, Swamp Francolin or Swamp Partridge Francolinus gularis, Manipur Bush Quail Perdicula manipurensis, Jerdon`s Bushchat Saxicola jerdoni, Bristled Grass Warbler Chaetornis straitus. Fairly recently, Java Munia or Java Sparrow Lonchura oryzivora previously unrecorded from the Northeastern region of India, also has been sighted in the Deobali area.