KARACHI: Over 60 waterfowl species spotted in a recent survey conducted by the Sindh wildlife department at 30 water bodies across the province.

A total of 639,122 birds were recorded during the annual waterfowl survey conducted between December 2023 and February 2024.

Officials said that most of the species were either digitally recorded for the first time or spotted after a long period.

They said that the total population of waterfowls recorded during the current period was greater than last year’s count of 613,000.

The water bodies where the recent survey was conducted included nine sites in Nangarparkar, Lungh Lake, Drigh Lake and Hammal Lake (all three in Qambar Shahdadkot), Mehrano Lake in Khairpur, Manchhar Lake in Jamshoro, Chutiyari Dam in Sanghar, Keenjhar Lake in Thatta, Port Qasim, Hub Dam and Russian Beach in Karachi.

Wildlife dept spots over 639,122 birds during annual survey that began in December and ended last month

The species digitally recorded for the first time included bar-headed goose, cotton pygmy goose, Indian spot billed duck, oriental darter, Asian woolly necked stroke, red-naped ibis, black-headed ibis, black-necked grebe, jack snipe, lesser flamingo and Indian cormorant,

The species seen after a long time included great crested grebe, white stork and lesser whistling duck.

According to officials, the Nurr-ri lagoon of Badin district, like previous years, has remained to be the richest spot in the province in terms of bird population (168,964) followed by the area of Run of Kutch in Nagarparkar (117,790).

The survey findings showed that a significant numbers of waterfowls had selected new areas for their brief stay.

World Wildlife Day

The release of the survey’s findings coincided with the World Wildlife Day observed every year on March 3.

This year’s theme is Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.

“Digital technology has brought revolutionary changes in life. Not only the ways of communication and our working have become smarter and efficient, the technology has been very helpful in wildlife conservation and creating public awareness,” shared Sindh Wildlife Conservator Javed Ahmed Mahar.

He added that the technology had also helped in taking action against illegal hunting in the province.

About the survey, he said that its findings represented the minimum number of birds present at a specific place at a given time.

“Last year’s floods seemed to have a positive impact on the wildlife habitats, though the natural calamity caused unprecedented damage to infrastructure, agriculture and livestock,” he said.

The provincial wildlife department had been releasing annual waterfowl census since the 1980s, he pointed out while agreeing that surveys needed to be carried out for other wildlife species as well.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024