Vibhor Mohan, TNN | Dec 5, 2014, 09.06AM IST
CHANDIGARH: In what would strengthen Nangal wetland's claim to an important bird and biodiversity area (IBA) tag, four threatened species of migratory birds have been sighted there this season. The area is these days playing host to painted stork, Egyptian vulture, ferruginous pochard and oriental darter.
IBA is a world bird conservation project of Birdlife International in the US with special focus on globally-threatened bird species. Around 466 IBA sites were identified in India in 2004, including Ramsar sites in Punjab. After 10 years, all the IBA sites were resurveyed by teams in IBA to record the present bird and biodiversity status according to the IBA criteria for re-declaration. Next year, the revised edition of the IBA book will be launched in India and birdwatchers have already proposed Nangal's name.
Experts say this is an encouraging trend considering that due to global climate change impact, migration of long-distance winter migratory water birds has been late and slow with lesser diversity in species and population. As a result, arrival of fewer bird species with lesser population of winter migratory water birds has been recorded.
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