By Sheren Shrestha

Bhagalpur (Bihar): While the Greater adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius) population of the world is seeing a general decline, a recently discovered population in Bihar has been growing steadily, says Arvind Mishra, member of the State Wildlife Board, Government of Bihar.

“The population of Greater adjutant storks in Bhagalpur district has increased almost two folds as compared to last year, to at least 157 individuals if not more,” said Mishra, who along with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is working to conserve the species in the state.

Mishra, an executive committee member of the Mandar Nature Club in Bhagalpur, discovered the breeding population of the storks along the Kosi and Ganga flood plains in the winter of 2006. Prior to this, they were known only from Cambodia and the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, with the worldwide count of less than 800 individuals.

“We (Mishra and his field assistant Jai Nandan Mandal) found two nests of Greater adjutant storks on a Bombax tree in October 2006 in Motichak, along Ganga diara. In January following year, they had been dismantled. However, we later found 16 more nests in Kadwa Kosi diara,” Mishra said.

The initial excitement of the discovery however was stifled by the looming threats facing these storks. Because of their size (about 150 cm), they fell easy prey and were preferred by hunting tribesmen known as ‘Gulgulwas’. Their behaviour of nesting in communities, with a single tree holding several nests, also worked against their favour. It was apparent that without protection, survival of these storks in Bihar was doubtful.

In addition, the local villagers, annoyed at the birds dirtying their compounds, resorted to felling the branches of the trees to destroy the nests and scaring the storks away.  

Under the Rapid Action Project funded by the WTI, Mishra organised awareness programmes and employed volunteering villagers as watchers to protect the nesting colonies from poachers and other miscreants. He also motivated the forest officials, media, police, panchayat representatives, school teachers and students to support his campaign.

“The villagers of Bhagalpur now worship the stork as ‘Garuda’- the steed of Lord Vishnu. They had once found an injured juvenile stork and were actually taking care of it. We provided it with locally available medical facilities but the bird did not survive. It was buried by the villagers following the rituals as in a human death,” recalled Mishra.

“Continuous surveillance and awareness programmes conducted with WTI’s help have proven very efficient in protecting the storks,” said Mishra. “Last year, there were 16 nests and about 81 birds including 25 chicks in Kosi diara alone; this year, we found 32 nests with 62 chicks successfully fledged from both Kosi and Ganga diaras. This increase in the number as well as the range will be crucial for their long-term survival,” he added.

WTI has also funded similar projects to protect the breeding populations of these storks in Assam, where about 80 percent of the world’s population survive.

Mishra believes that more colonies of these storks may be found in Bihar. “There is an urgent need for a state-wide survey to find more of such colonies. Success in this attempt will prove to be a significant step in the conservation of this endangered stork,” he says.

Identified by a loose neck pouch, pinkish bare head, thick yellowish bill and huge dark body, the Greater adjutant stork is classified as ‘endangered’ in the IUCN red list of threatened species. Sightings in Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand, experts believe, are results of ’straying away’ from the populations of either India or Cambodia.