Rare Bird Spotted in Odisha for First Time

For the first time in the State, rare species of migratory waterfowl has been spotted in Balasore district during a census by the Forest department that concluded on Friday. The rare bird, Common Merganser, was sighted at Laxmipada Chada on Subarnarekha river mouth.

Common Merganser is a migratory bird of duck family having a size of around 58 cm to 72 cm and weight of 1 kg to 2.1 kg. Normally, male birds are slightly larger than females. Like other species in the genus Mergus, it has a crest of longer head feathers, but these usually lie smoothly rounded behind the head, not normally forming an erect crest.

As many as 27 Common Merganger birds in a group were detected on Subarnarekha river mouth on Thursday. The birds which were found here were of 66 cm long. Balasore DFO Harsha Bardhan Udgata said this migratory bird usually resides in Ladakh, Mangolia, Pakistan and Tibet.

“During winter, they fly to North Indian rivers, lakes and fast flowing streams, but have never visited Odisha. However, it was sighted for the first time during census operation of Asian waterfowl in wetlands of Balasore division conducted near seashore by a team of ornithologists led by Gahar Abbedin of Bhubaneswar,” Udgata said. The male bird has black head and back with metallic green purple gloss, thin neck, pointed red bill and red leg on its grayish white body. The female has rufous head with single pointed crest.

Besides the DFO, other members of the census team were Regional Chief Conservator of Forest (RCCF) Anup Kumar Nayak, honourary wildlife warden Jayanta Chandra Mardaraj, wildlife activists Biswajit Mohanty, Ranjit Pattnaik, Prasant Mardaraj, forest rangers Ajay Kumar Das and PK Mallick.

The identification of bird has been confirmed by famous ornithologist of Odisha UN Dev and Bibhas Pandab of Dehra Dun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The bird is well known as a good fish hunter and due to severe cold experienced in northern India, the birds might have migrated to Odisha in search of food.

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