BHUBANESWAR: The bird and bird nest count in Bhitarkanika this year have recorded an increase over the previous year, said officials of Mangrove Forest Division (Wildlife), Rajnagar on Saturday.
As many as 1.30 lakh birds and 27,282 bird nests were counted during this year’s enumeration exercise carried out at Kanika and Rajnagar ranges from September 9 to 13. An increase of 6,256 birds and 1,154 bird nests were recorded during the count, said officials of the Mangrove forest division. In 2023, the bird count of the sanctuary was around 1.23 lakh while the nest count stood at 26,118.
Officials said a total of 12,502 nests were found during the count at Matha Dia while 12,702 nests were found at Laxmiprasad Dia. At least 1,548 nests were spotted at Durgaprasad Dia while another 520 nests found in Bali Dia, the place where new nesting had been found last year. Most of the nests belonged to Asian openbill stork, forest officials said.
Around 1,300 trees with nests were counted in the exercise this year which is lower than the last year’s count of 1,760 trees with nests.