First ever water bird census in TS

7 lakes identified for the census

Biodiversity Management Committee of Manikonda Municipality, in collaboration with the Telangana Biodiversity Board and Dhruvansh organisation, conducted the first ever water bird census in Telangana at seven lakes on Saturday.

The lakes where the census was conducted include Neknampur Lake, Mushki Cheruvu, Peeram Cheruvu, Alwal Cheruvu and Chintal Cheruvu of Manikonda area.

The Board is part of the first ever water bird census in the country being undertaken by the National Biodiversity Authority in collaboration with the Wetlands International South Asia and Bombay Natural History Society.

For this, the Board has identified sites across the State and instructed respective Biodiversity Management Committee members to take active part in the conduct of the Annual Water Bird Census (AWC) 2022.

It has also conducted virtual training sessions to students, BMC members and volunteers who are going to take part in the census, in coordination with AWC and Deccan Birders. Around 50 BMCs and 100 students from all over the State are participating in the census, a note from the Board said.

AWC is part of the International Water Bird Census (IWC), which is a site-based counting scheme for monitoring the water bird numbers. Being organised since 1967 by the Wetlands International, which was formerly the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB), the census operates at global level and aims at monitoring the numerical size of water bird populations, identifying wetlands of international importance, and providing information to assist protection and management of water bird populations through international conventions, national legislation and other means, a note from the Board said.

Regional Coordinator, Telangana State Biodiversity Board, Shilpi Sharma, Commissioner, Manikonda Municipality, K. Phalgun Kumar and others participated in the census conducted between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

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