Annual Waterfowl Census to be Conducted in Kaziranga National Park

GUWAHATI: The Kaziranga National Park in Assam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will conduct its annual waterfowl census in December. As per national park authorities, the census will take place on December 20 and 21.

Kaziranga National Park is located in the districts of Golaghat, Karbi Anglong, and Nagaon in the Indian state of Assam. The sanctuary is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is home to two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses.

The rhino population in Kaziranga National Park is 2,413, as shown in a census done jointly by the Forest Department of the Government of Assam and certain recognised wildlife NGOs in March 2018. There are 1,641 adult rhinos, 387 sub-adults, and 385 calves in the herd. 

Kaziranga National Park is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshes, and deep tropical wet broadleaf forests traversed by four major rivers, such as the Brahmaputra, and several small bodies of water. Kaziranga has been the subject of several novels, songs, and documentaries. The park celebrated its centenary in 2005, after being created as a protected woodland in 1905. 

The primary objectives of the Census will be to count and record waterfowl and other winter-migratory species, as well as to monitor and analyse the state of wetlands.

The Census will cover birds located in water bodies and marshes, according to P Sivakumar, the Field Director of Kaziranga National Park. In addition, around 35 parts of the reservoir will be counted as part of the census.

The bird census will be conducted using binoculars, range finders, and GPS in collaboration with bird specialists and volunteers. For the first time in 2019, 11,500 aquatic birds were identified in the first test census of the year. In the third annual Census in 2021, 93,491 birds from 112 species from 22 countries were counted.

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