226 species of birds found during survey in Maha's 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, an official said.

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 detailed scientific report on the data collected during the survey, conducted from January 13 to 15, will be published soon, he said. ''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. The inferences drawn from the data and ecological modelling will be used for management interventions of the reserve, it said.

More than 125 volunteers from 11 states participated in the three-day survey.

''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.

The survey was conducted in collaboration with TINSA Ecological Foundation, an NGO involved in ecological research.

The Pench Tiger Reserve is located across parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)