PANAJI
There’s a new addition to Goa’s bird-watching list. The Falcated Duck, a very rare vagrant species to the south of India, was sighted at the Ambulor Lake in Verna.
Incidentally, this sighting of the Falcated Duck only the third from south India
According to a press note by the Goa Bird Conservation Network, three local birders Justino Rebello, Manoj Sankav and Mangrish Dharwardkar sighted the bird on February 13.
Justino photographed the duck. “I managed to take few shots of the bird before it disappeared,’’ he said.
Explains Mandar Bhagat, GBCN joint secretary, “The Falcated Duck is a regular winter migrant to the northern states of India. They breed in Russia and north China in summers and migrate to north of India in winter. Some of these though are known to move further south.” “There are two reports of this species from south of India. The first was reported from Tamil Nadu in 2012, while in January 2015 a single individual was reported from Akola in Maharashtra. This sighting by the birding trio is only the third from south India.”
According to GBCN President Parag Rangnekar, the Falcated Duck is classified as near threatened in terms of its conservation prioritization by International Union for Conservation of Nature. “Recent estimates have put the world population of this species to be just about 89,000 individuals,” he informed. “The greatest threat faced by this species globally is the loss of habitat and hunting. Loss of habitat in their winter migratory region is also a cause for concern,” Rangnekar adds.
Says Prasanna Parab, reviewer for eBird Goa: “Wetlands play a very important ecological role and in Goa these have a strong link with the way we live. Migratory birds are an important component of any wetland ecosystem. In recent years the number of vagrant migratory species visiting the state has been increasing and there could be many reasons for this.”
He adds, “For now, it would be safe to say that we need to sustainably use our wetlands to ensure that our winged visitors keep returning every year in even greater numbers. With this new sighting, the checklist of Birds of Goa stands at 461 species thanks to the ever vigilant and active bird watchers of Goa.”
