A Bird Sanctuary.....doomed!

Since its winter, the best time to see migratory birds, so I planned a trip to a Bird Sanctuary. Called up one of my bank mates and he agreed to help. This is one of the advantages of working in an institution which has branches at various locations; you will always have someone or the other to help you almost everywhere. Getting help from locals always makes a trip hassle free and much more enjoyable.
We were whooshing through the highway beating early morning chill on our bikes! Our destination was one of the lesser known bird sanctuaries of Assam, Panidehing Bird sanctuary. Only half an hour away from the historic town of Sibasagar. Somehow I had this thought in my head that since the place I was going to visit is not favored by many so there will be less human interference and may have some special sightings. Little did I know what future had stored for me! The road was better than I thought and we reached well on time. Parking our bikes near a dried up swamp, we started walking.

They run the place

From the first look of it, the landscape appeared to be different. There was a river (almost dried up), grasslands and marshes on either sides of it. We pressed on but I failed to see any birds except a group of yellow and white wagtails which guided us the way. I climbed up the watchtower to have a better look at the landscape and to decide our course. Disappointed I was, the moment I completed a full 360 degree scan of my surroundings! What I could see was vast stretch of grasslands with thousands of cattle grazing but no Birds! All my excitement to explore an untouched bird sanctuary dried away in a second. Since the river had dried up it made the whole area accessible for humans and their livestock.

Deserted Swamps!

 
Burying my fear that I may not find anything there, I decided to walk alongside the dry riverbed. What I encountered the most, were humans fishing on the river and some collecting willow! They were clueless when I asked them about birds and behaved as if I was looking for tigers! They seemed ignorant or unaware of the fact that it’s a protected area and they are not supposed to fish there. It might also be the result of zero efforts put by the authorities to demarcate the boundary of the sanctuary with hoardings, signboards, pillars, fence or anything of that kind to aware people about the Dos and Don’ts and to keep them away. Apart from human presence and their thousands of cattle, I saw dogs (feral or domestic not known) which must have also played a role in driving the birds away over the period of time. I actually found one dog running away with a duck like bird carcass in its mouth! I have too less information to say anything conclusive but I didn't enjoy what I saw. Despite having everything for an idle bird roosting site, a river, marshes and vast grasslands on either sides, the landscape was (almost) empty! And it forced me to think that there are external human caused factors involved in eradicating birds for the sanctuary!

Alone!............yet hopeful

Despite all that disturbance and damage caused by us, nature did through some surprises at me! I almost bumped into a Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) hiding in the bushes and an Oriental Hobby (Falco severus) flew away when I went too close to photograph it. Other than these two excitements I saw small groups of Greylag goose(Anser anser) and Pintail(Anas acuta) in the shallow waters. Some Bronze winged jacana (Metopidius indicus), Marsh Sandpiper(Tringa stagnatilis) were busy doing their business in mudflats and wet patches with no or little vegetation. More than a dozen of Asian open bill stork (Anastomus oscitans), a few Lesser Adjutant stork(Leptoptilos javanicus) sunning in the open and a flock of Asian Palm Swift(Cypsiurus balasiensis) zigzagging overhead.

I hope am wrong with my theory about the status of the bird sanctuary and was just unlucky. Will be happy if nature proves me wrong with a larger number of avian attendances next time I visit Panidehing!