Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary conducts its maiden bird survey
Have you ever been to the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary? Yes, we are talking about the one located in Shahapur tehsil of Maharashtra’s Thane district. Well, if you have, you must remember that it is full of unique bird species. But turns out, until recently, not a single bird survey was conducted by the sanctuary that is spread over 338 square kilometres.
But that changed last weekend when the first ever bird survey revealed an impressive list of 186 species of birds on the sanctuary’s 53rd anniversary. As part of these survey, both sanctuary officials and bird lovers from all across the country (including Mumbai, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu) volunteered to spot the birds by touring around. A few NGOs also participated in the survey such as the Owl Foundation. There were 34 volunteers in total, who were paired into a group of 2 and send across various routes during different parts of the day, for a period of three days.
For those unaware, Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary is primarily known for its forest owlet, a small species of owl. Usually, the bird is located near the sanctuary’s two lakes, Tansa and Modak Sagar (both of them supply water to Mumbai), but this time they were also spotted near Pendhari and Quarry pada regions of the park. Some other rare birds that were observed are yellow-footed green pigeon, sulphur-bellied warbler, great cormorant, verditer flycatcher, red avadavat, greater flameback, mottled wood owl, crested serpent eagle, Indian paradise flycatcher, booted eagel, red spurfowl, blue rock thrush, changeable hawk-eagle, bronzed drongo, Indian spotted eagle, brown boobook, short-eared owl, Indian peafowl, western crowned warbler, blue-capped rock thrush, rufous woodpecker, besra, Malabar parakeet, yellow-browed warbler, lesser whitethroat, barn owl, ultramarine flycatcher, forest owlet, Indian bush lark, Malabar lark and Indian grey hornbill.
While the bird survey proved to be a huge success, it also helped discover the reappearance of leopards, that had dwindled over the years due to tribal usurpation of the forest land. This has garnered new hopes that tigers too might be found that had been erased in the early 1990s.
In case you are interested to know, Tansa Wildlife Santuary was established in February 1970 by the Maharashtra State Forest Department and has been run and maintained by them ever since. It is said to house 54 species of mammals and 250 species of birds including sloth bear, porcupine and barking deer, not to forget the endangered forest owlet.