Two interconnected wetlands in the 1,300 sq. km Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve have recorded more birds than many Ramsar sites in India, the latest waterbird census has noted.
India has 89 Ramsar sites, which are wetlands deemed to be of international importance under the 1971 Ramsar Convention held in Iran.
The sixth waterbird census covering 189 beels (wetlands with still water) in the tiger reserve encompassing smaller protected areas and a section of the Brahmaputra River was conducted over two days in January. The report was released on Sunday to mark the World Wetlands Day.
The population estimation yielded 124 species of water and wetland-dependent local and migratory birds totalling 1,12,062 individuals – 23,352 more than the number counted in 2024 – from 25 families. Of the 124 species, 62 were winter migrants.
A total of 47,133 individuals belonging to 88 species were recorded from the Rowmari and Donduwa beels. Connected by a narrow channel, these two beels are in the Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary under the Nagaon Wildlife Division of the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve.
Much of Laokhowa was under human encroachment. The squatters were evicted a few years ago, helping the rhino and other animals and birds reclaim their territory after at least two decades.
“The Rowmari-Donduwa complex has emerged as a potential Ramsar site. More waterbirds were counted in this complex than the two Ramsar sites in the northeast – Assam’s Deepor Beel and Manipur’s Loktak Lake,” Kaziranga’s Field Director Sonali Ghosh told The Hindu.
While Loktak Lake recorded 32,853 individuals belonging to 30 species, Deepor Beel yielded 12,245 individuals across 105 species in the last waterbird population estimation. The Rowmari-Donduwa bird count was also more than the 50,000 individuals of 20 species recorded in Kashmir’s Wular Lake.
India’s top three Ramsar sites with the most birds are Andhra Pradesh’s Kolleru Lake (232 species), Gujarat’s Nal Sarovar (210), and Rajasthan’s Keoladeo Ghana National Park (110).
Five new visitors
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, seven species recorded were globally threatened and 15 species near-threatened. Among the threatened species spotted were the critically endangered Baer’s pochard, the endangered Palla’s fish eagle, and the steppe eagle, and the vulnerable common pochard, greater spotted eagle, Indian spotted eagle and river tern.
The Baer’s pochard was one of five species observed in the tiger reserve for the first time. The other were knob-billed duck, falcated duck, white-tailed eagle, and greater white-fronted goose.
The bar-headed goose had the highest count at 20,845 individuals.
India hosts about 370 migratory bird species from three major flyways, with 310 predominantly using wetland habitats. The country’s diverse wetlands, spanning 15.26 million hectares, provide critical habitats for more than 200 waterbird species.
The birds typically follow the Central Asian Flyway and East African-Eurasian Flyway, using India’s wetlands as important refuelling stations during their long journeys. These sites are critical for the birds’ annual migration cycles, offering suitable wintering grounds and essential resources.
