Naga Wren Babbler, Blyth’s Tragopan, Dark-rumped Swift, Manipur Fulvetta, and Chestnut-backed Laughingthrush are the five bird species in Nagaland that have been recognized to be in need of the highest conservation priority by the State of India’s Bird Report 2023.
Released on 25 August 2023, the State of India’s Bird (SoIB) 2023 report paints a grim picture for numerous bird species across the country, indicating a distressing decline in their populations. The report highlights that 178 species are classified as needing immediate priority for conservation.
A cornerstone of avian research, the State of India’s Bird report conducts periodic assessments of distribution ranges, abundance trends, and conservation statuses for the majority of bird species regularly found in India. Serving as a comprehensive nationwide evaluation, the report effectively identifies the conservation imperatives for India’s avian population.
The SoIB 2023 initiative stands as a collaborative effort involving 13 esteemed institutions in the country, comprising 6 Government entities, 7 conservation-focused NGOs, and numerous independent professionals.
India boasts a recorded diversity of approximately 1,350 bird species. The report relied heavily on bird observation data collected by citizen scientists, with more than 30 million field observations made by nearly 30,000 birdwatchers in India and logged in the online database eBird.
The report revealed that nearly 60% of the 348 species studied over a 25-year period exhibited long-term declines, and 40% of the 359 species assessed since 2015 had also declined.
The report highlighted that while a few generalist species like the Indian peafowl and Asian koel are thriving in India, many others, especially habitat specialists such as birds found in grasslands and wetlands, are experiencing rapid decline.
Birds that feed on vertebrates and carrion – including raptors (specifically habitat-specialist raptors such as some harriers and the Short-toed snake eagle) and vultures – have experienced significant declines. This could suggest the presence of harmful pollutants in their food resources, a decrease in prey availability, or both, as per the report’s findings.
Furthermore, the report identified that raptor and duck populations had suffered the most significant declines, and the numbers of several common species, such as the great grey shrike, were also decreasing.
Migratory birds were found to be declining more rapidly than non-migratory ones. Birds in specific habitats like grasslands and shrublands, classified as wastelands in India, had also experienced a more pronounced decline than those in open habitats.
While the exact causes behind the decline in species populations are not yet fully understood, the report highlights factors such as land-use changes, urbanization, ecosystem degradation, monocultures, infrastructure development, pollution, and climate breakdown as potential threats.
The publishers of the report have called for further research into understanding the underlying causes.
Banner image courtesy Shounak Lahiri
