Guwahati: Aaranyak conducted a bird survey at the Doloni beel in Bongaigaon district of Assam in association with the Botany and Zoology Departments of Abhayapuri College and the Aie Valley Forest Division.
A forty-member team comprising of Aaranyak’s members, students of Abhayapuri College and some local youth participated in the survey.
Forty-seven species of wetland birds were recorded including 1847 individual birds during the survey.
Some of the prominent species recorded were Red-crested Pochard, Ferrugeneous Pochard, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Fulvous Whistling Teal, and Lesser Adjutant Stork.
Udayan Borthakur, a senior scientist at Aaranyak and a professional wildlife photographer, oriented the participants about the method of bird count that was used during the survey.
Eight different groups carried out the survey at different locations in and around the Doloni Beel on February 21.
The survey groups were led by Udayan Borthakur, Pranjal Kumar Das, Chinmoy Swargiary, Ashoke Kumar Das, Subrata Sarkar, Manabendra Ray Choudhury, Prantik Ranjan Roy, Ankur Barman, Harmohan Rabha, Ratna Prabhakar Rabha, Madhurima Choudhury, and Bishakha Ray.
The students of Abhayapuri College who were present in the survey are – Hiranmoy Das, Samina Parbin, Pratiksha Kashyap, S.J Rasmina Yesmin, Subham Das, Jyotideep Das, Ibn Alha, Parishmita Das, Tarali Sarma, Suhana Husssain, Narzuma Yesmin, Jevin Hussnia, Monalisha Khatun, Ahidul Sheikh, Surajit Ray, Purnima Barman, Riju Gital, Mehbuba Rahman, Mahmooda Ibtesam, Nasima Khatun, Pranab Das, Asmina Khatun and Jurijyoti Ray.
The local youths who participated in the survey were – Chandika Rabha, Putu Rabha, Budhadeb Rabha, Ranjita Rabha and Niru Rabha.
Dr Partha Jyoti Das, Head of the ‘Water Climate & Hazard’ Division of Aaranyak along with Arup Das, Senior Manager of Geospatial Technology and Application Division of Aaranyak were also present during the survey.
The programme was coordinated by Ashoke Kumar Das, who is the zonal coordinator of Aaranyak West zone and an Assistant Professor of Botany department of Abhayapuri College assisted by Ankur Barman.
The programme was carried out as part of an ongoing study on the Doloni Beel by Aaranyak in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department, and was supported by the GIZ-India.
