Mandarin duck sighting raises awareness on lesser-known wetlands
3 years, 9 months ago

Mandarin duck sighting raises awareness on lesser-known wetlands

Live Mint  

On an early afternoon on February 2 this year, a lone Mandarin duck was spotted in Maguri beel in Assam in northeast India, close to the site of an oil well fire that had occurred some months ago. The team of Divisional Forest Officer Abhinav Kumar in Ziro, in Arunachal Pradesh, has recorded nine species of birds new to Siikhe Lake, including the Mandarin duck. “The lake became active in 2018; ever since we’ve been observing migratory winter bird species in the lake and surrounding foothills,” he said. The most recent spotting is from December 24, 2020, at Imphal River of Ithai Laikhong area.” Too premature to say Maguri beel has revived Rathin Barman, co-director at Wildlife Trust of India told Mongabay-India that it is difficult to say why exactly migratory birds stray from their route, or if they lose their original flock, but rare appearances are not unheard of. “All of it has to renew and recover for Maguri to holistically revive.” Punyasloke Bhaduri, professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Kolkata suggests that to draw long-term implications on whether or not the spotting of the bird in the wetland signifies major biodiversity changes, we have to look at aquatic and other resident bird/animal/plant species.

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