Raipur: A migratory bird ‘Eurasian or Common Wimbrel’ tagged with a GPS transmitter in Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh was recorded on camera for the first time. Forest officials gave this information on Tuesday.
Madhuri Singh, Bemetara forest range officer, said the bird, locally known as ‘Chhota Gong’, was spotted by a team of bird observers at a dam in Berla area of Bemetara district of the state on May 18. This bird was seen there till Monday.
Singh said, “Whimbrel has been recorded on camera for the first time in the state. The bird was fitted with a GPS transmitter and a yellow color tag, he said. “Many organizations and countries use geo-tagging and color tags to study bird migration, which provides information on bird migration status and behaviour,” he said. Help in keeping an eye. This solitary Whimbrel was first photographed by Dr. Himanshu Gupta, Jageshwar Verma and Avinash Bhoi, bird observers at Berla.
“Probably for the first time, a long-distance migratory bird equipped with a GPS transmitter has been spotted in Chhattisgarh,” said Bhoi, a government official. It has been spotted for the first time in India after being tagged by a professor at De La Reunion University. He said the bird has been named ‘Merlyn’ by the professor. He told that La Reunion, an island of France, is in the Indian Ocean to the east of Madagascar.
The official said different countries use different colored tags to monitor and study bird populations. Bhoi said that according to information received by bird watchers, this whimbrel was first caught on November 16 last year on Reunion Island, where it spends its winter or non-breeding time. The bird was yellow tagged the same day.
He told that it was captured again on March 7 this year and GPS tagged. The bird remained in the Reunion area until 22 March. Bhoi said that after this the bird flew to Mauritius which is at a distance of about 200 kilometers. It left Mauritius on 13 April and crossed the Indian Ocean to the north and reached Pakistan on 4 May. It remained over the Indus delta for 10 days and then flew towards the east.
The official said it reached Balaghat in neighboring Madhya Pradesh and then moved to Bemetara in Chhattisgarh where it was spotted. “The bird is on a return journey to its breeding grounds, which should be somewhere in northern Siberia or northern Asia,” Bhoi said.
The areas around Gidhwa, Parsada, Nagdha and Eramshahi villages, located in Bemetara district, about 70 km from the capital Raipur, are full of aquatic biodiversity and wetlands that provide suitable habitat for seasonal migratory birds and local birds.
A total of 143 species of birds, including 26 local migratory species, 11 foreign migratory species and 106 local resident species, were found there during previous studies, officials said.