Pong Dam (Himachal Pradesh): Over 27,000 bar-headed geese, the world’s highest-altitude migrant bird species, are “holidaying” in Himachal Pradesh’s Pong Dam wetlands along with around 100,000 birds of 60 local and migratory species.
A wildlife official said the influx of the bar-headed geese at Pong Dam has increased enormously after a gap of two years.
“As per our initial estimates, the number of bar-headed goose could be more than 27,000,” Assistant Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) D S Dadwal said.
He said besides the bar-headed goose, the other prominent species are the common coot, northern pintail, common pochard, tufted pochard, red-crested pochard, common teal, little cormorant, great-crested grebe and greylag goose.
Ruddy-breasted crake — a bird species usually seen in marshy areas of northeastern India — has been recorded for the first time in Pong.
“Only one ruddy-breasted crake was spotted in the Sansarpur Terrace area. Their exact status would be known in the bird census to be carried out by the department on January 28 and 29,” he added.
The Pong wetlands, spread over 307 square kilometre in the Kangra Valley, have the distinction of being one of the important winter grounds for some of the rare species from Central and Northern Asia. The Pong Dam reservoir is some 250 km from state capital Shimla and 190 km from Chandigarh.
The influx of birds, said the official, can be seen at swamps near Nagrota Suriyan, Budladha and Sansarpur Terrace.
Dadwal said the bar-headed goose is a regular winter visitor to large wetlands of India, especially Pong.
The goose, with two distinctive black bars across its neck, starts descending in wetlands in October and stays till March-end.
Records of the state wildlife department say the largest influx of the bar-beaded goose in the Pong Dam was recorded in 2010. At that time their number crossed 40,000. IANS
