Back in January to February this year, the Bihar Forest Department conducted a survey in collaboration with Bombay Natural History Society to find out how many bird species are found in Bihar.
They conducted the survey by covering the 76 wetlands located in three river systems called Ganga, Kosi, and Gandak in Bihar.
In addition to covering the wetlands, they also inspected dozens of reservoirs, freshwater lakes, fishponds, and freshwater marshes.
And after completing the survey, the research team found over 205 bird species in Bihar.
The research team found that, while Bhagalpur and Jamui had the maximum number of water bird species whereas Begusarai had the maximum number of land bird species.
The National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds and their Habitats
Those of you who don’t know, In 2018, the union government formed an action plan to conserve migratory birds and their habitats. The plan was called “India’s National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds and their Habitats”.
Following the Centre’s direction, Bihar became the first state to work towards this initiative and In 2020, Bihar signed an MOU with the Bombay Natural History Society to set up a Bird Research, Monitoring and Awareness Centre in Bhagalpur.
In fact in 2020, Bihar organized the state’s first migratory bird festival in Bhagalpur to raise awareness and in the same year, Begusarai Kanwar lake was declared the first Ramsar site in the state.
And from there on, the journey to count the number of bird species in the state started.
In 2022 as well, the counting was completed and at that time, the number of bird species in Bihar were 202 but this year, 3 species have increased.
Bihar: A State of Various Bird Species
Bihar is a state of various bird species but a large number of migratory birds visit in the state during winters.
Some of the common bird species found in Bihar are Eagle, Goose, Falcon etc.
Now, while the Bihar Forest Department census reports 205 birds found in Bihar, as per ebird.org the number of birds found in Bihar so far is 379. Check out the list and you will be surprised to see these numbers of birds are found in Bihar.
That’s it for the article. If you have any suggestions or opinions, feel free to post in the comments down below.
