Over the past decade, water and terrestrial resident bird species’ diversity, and their summer breeding, has been gradually decreasing in parts of Punjab because of declining wildlife habitat impacted by climate change and increased human interference, the data from field survey records indicates.
The trend was observed in the decade from 2014 to 2024 in Punjab’s Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary, and Ropar Wetland Conservation Reserve, which includes the Nangal Wetland and Ropar Wetland, both Ramsar sites, that is, wetlands with international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
The annual field survey records from 2014 to 2024 have revealed that in the past decade, there has been a gradual decrease in the diversity of bird species, which is the number of species and the abundance in the occurrence of each species that lives in a specific area, ecologist and conservationist T. K. Roy said. Also, lesser breeding has been observed during summers at Nangal and Ropar, he said.
“Especially between 2017-2024, there has been a consistent decline in the bird species diversity of resident birds. Apart from the impact of climate change, human intervention and disturbance, including public movement, cattle grazing, cleaning, and firewood collection are possible reasons behind the decline,” Mr. Roy told The Hindu.
According to the monitoring data, the species diversity of resident birds within the Nangal Wildlife Sanctuary in 2014 was 53. In 2015, the species diversity was 67. In 2017, it rose to 70. But since then, the species diversity in the sanctuary has been declining. In 2023, the species diversity was 51, and in 2024, it had come down to 41.
Similarly, at the Ropar Wetland Conservation Reserve, the species diversity of resident birds was 55 in 2014, 63 in 2015, and 58 in 2017. In 2023, however, it had fallen to 51, and in 2024, the species diversity dropped further to 41.
The resident bird species usually found in Nangal and Ropar include the Rose-ring Parakeet, Cattle Egret, Little Cormorant, Red-Wattled Lapwing, and Indian Spot-billed Duck. A few migratory terrestrial bird species, including the Common Hawk Cuckoo, Grey-bellied Cuckoo, Golden Oriole, and Blue-tailed Bee-eater, visit Ropar and Nangal in the summer.
The conservationist said that fewer bird nests had been recorded in the latest survey, which indicates a decline in the annual summer-monsoon breeding of resident water bird species. In his recommendation to the Punjab Wildlife Preservation Department, Mr. Roy has said that, due to several local disturbances, threats, and decreasing habitat, the non-availability of food to water birds results in the decrease of certain species at many wetlands.
“At Ropar and Nangal, human disturbance along the riverbanks seems to be a cause of the decreasing number of water birds. Steps should be taken to conserve the habitat in these areas to ensure that the bird species do not suffer,” Mr. Roy said.
