Bird diversity still intact around Kaiga plant in Gujarat

Despite all the radiation fears around the nuclear plants in India, the Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) here found out that the bird diversity in the 5 km radius of the KGS was intact and flourishing.
The annual bird watching and identification event held on Monday has confirmed that all the varieties of birds that were inhabitants of this region were still in great spirits.

“The KGS organises the event Kaiga Bird Marathon every year and we keep a track of birds that are found and identified in this area specially around the KGS, amateur ornithologists with a group of bird enthusiasts go deep into the forests and carry out a bird watching session and for the last few years we have found that the watchers have identified all the birds that are generally seen here,” JP Gupta director of the KGS told DNA.

It was a part of NPCIL’s Environment Stewardship Program (ESP) and this year 68 birdwatchers from Hubli, Kadra, Sirsi, Raichur and Kaiga, took part in the marathon. The teams were mix of older and new faces. Six teams were formed to identify and count the birds around Kaiga.

Each team had an expert ornithologist as leader and a coordinator from Kaiga. Each team had travelled through their allotted transect of about 6-7 km distance and recorded aquatic and land birds sighted by them.

A total distance of about 42 km in all directions from the KGS was covered. All the data collected by these teams has been compiled and analysed by the organisers.

During the event, 152 species of birds were identified. The birdwatchers sited grey-headed lapwing (Vanellus Cinereus), which normally breeds in North-East China and Japan.

They also spotted birds endemic to this region including laughing dove (Stigmatopelia Senegalensis), Indian silver bill (Euodice Malabarica), jungle owlet (Glaucidium Radiatum), white rumped shama (Copsychus Malabaricus), white bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus Leucogaster), Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros Coronatus), etc.