Bird marathon throws up surprise
Team also spots black panther.
Karwar: Kaiga Bird Marathon-2014, the annual birding event organised by Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) has identified 14 new species of birds in and around Kaiga Nuclear Power Station.
Kaiga Bird Marathon is organised every year by KGS since 2011 with an aim to identify bird species around Kaiga Generating Stations and Kaiga Township.
According to the data, a total of 227 bird species have been identified so far around KGS since 2011. This year’s bird marathon alone has identified 180 species of birds as compared to 162 species identified last year. Of these 180 species 14 are those which were not found here during the earlier Marathons and were spotted this year.
Experts feel that these 14 species might have been living in these forests earlier. They were not spotted during the last Marathons events but were spotted this year.
The Marathon held last week was attended by 112 bird watchers and birding enthusiasts from various places like Hubli, Bangalore, Udupi, Manipal, Hospet, Sirsi, Calicut and Mumbai.
Eight teams were formed to identify and count the birds along predefined transects. Each team had an expert ornithologist as team leader and two coordinators from Kaiga.
The area in and around Kaiga was divided into eight transects. Each team had to travel through their allotted transect of 6-7 Km and record all aquatic, wetland, grassland, raptors and passerine birds sighted by them.
Birders observed various winter migrants, raptors, waders and other birds during the event. According to organisers, one of the team sighted Black Panther in their transect.