Maharashtra: 226 bird species found during survey in Pench Tiger Reserve

A total of 226 bird species have been spotted at the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Maharashtra during a recent survey conducted as part of the citizen science model to create a baseline data of bird diversity and density.

Some of the prominent bird species spotted in the reserve included Malabar pied hornbills, grey-headed fish eagle, emerald dove, Indian nuthatch, long-billed vulture, black eagle, great thick-knee, orange-headed thrush, white-rumped vulture and the Egyptian vulture, PTR’s deputy director Dr Prabhunath Shukla said in a release.

A total of 6,000 individual entries were collated on the Kobo app and a total of 226 species of birds were recorded from 741 sq km area of PTR spread in seven ranges, with the highest of bird diversity found in Chourbauli range (154 species), followed by east Pench (138 species), the release said.

These sort of surveys are important for conservation awareness and bring citizens from the tiger-centric conservation and tourism to landscape-level conservation and tourism, the official said. He claimed it was one of the largest bird survey in central India as it covered 741 sq km area of the Pench tiger Reserve including 78 beats.

A baseline checklist of 310 species in the Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra has already been created by the Central India Bird Academy, a Nagpur-based NGO, the release said.