Kendrapara: The Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district of Odisha is well known to animal and bird lovers across the globe. Its natural beauty welcomes tourists from far and wide places.
A popular sighting of Bhitarkanika National Park is the Bagagahana sanctuary. This is famous as a nestling place for the migratory birds. The sighting of a number of feathered friends on the trees at Bagagahana is a magnificent scene. However, it has registered a significant drop in bird sightings in the last 10 years. When will the birds come back? A report.
The biodiversity of the Bhitarkanika national park in Odisha is very popular. It also has a unique identity as a crocodile breeding place. Bhitarkanika was declared a sanctuary in 1975 for the breeding of the endangered saltwater crocodile. The park’s crocodile breeding and rearing project began in the same year.
In 1998, Bhitarkanika was given the status of a national park. Birds flock here at the beginning of the rainy season to breed. The nestlings return at the beginning of winter after rearing their brood.
The Bagagahana of Bhitarkanika is a unique attraction for birds. The 10-acre area has colorful birds nesting in the trees like guan, bani, and rai. A unique combination of food and consumer can be seen here.
Fishes come to feed on the bird droppings that have fallen under the trees in the water. Similarly, the birds in the trees come out of their nests and eat small fishes from the stagnant water and also take them for their young. Fishes come in the water to eat the droppings of the birds which is rare elsewhere.
A watch tower was built here for the tourists to watch the birds up close. At the beginning of winter, exotic birds flock to the Bhitarkanika.
In 2002, Bhitarkanika got Ramsar site status for the birds. But it has been seen that the birds are turning away from the Bagagahana for last 10 years.
On the contrary, birds are coming to mathamadia, Lakshmiprasaddia and Durgaprasaddia in Bhitarkanika for breeding. Hence, the forest department has started efforts to bring the birds back to Bagagahana.
The last time in 2014, as many as 91 thousand 545 birds reportedly nestled here. However, from 2015 till now Bagagahan has become deserted.
Birds have been nesting in Bagagahana for many years. The trees were completely covered in bird droppings. Trees are dying due to excess carbon in bird droppings. Bird excrement and tree branches and leaves fall under the tree over the years and it is gradually getting taller. Accordingly, the trees are not watered by the tide. And due to lack of water, fish are not coming here.
This has also affected the coming of birds as due to lack of food, the birds have turned away from the Bagagahana.
Therefore, the forest department has spent lakhs of rupees on planting new trees and making arrangements to take tidal water to Bagagahana by digging canals. After this, the forest department is hoping that the birds will return.
This year more number of birds have been counted than last year at Bagagahana. According to the last five years bird census report, 97 thousand 866 birds were counted in 2020, 1 lakh 8 thousand 639 in 2021, 1 lakh 16 thousand 70 in 2022, 1 lakh 23 thousand 867 in 2023 and 1 lakh 30 thousand 123 birds were counted in 2024. Compared to last year, 6,256 more birds have come this year.
