As part of the Asian Waterbird Census – 2017, the water bird count at the Kole Wetlands – a Ramsar Convention site and an Important Bird Area, was held on 1 January 2017. This is the 27th year of organised bird count at Kole Wetlands. The whole data on the AWC 2017 has been uploaded into the eBird under the account KoleBirders and the summary below is generated from the eBird (http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/ODMxNzU0/IN-KL-TS).
A total of 48,319 birds in 74 wetland depended species were counted this year. This is about 16,531 more birds than the previous year’s count in 2016, when 31,788 birds were counted. The count was done in 10 base camps such as Adat, Enamav, Palakkal, Thommana, Mulloorkayal, Manakodi, Pullazhi, Uppungal I & II and Marancherry.
The ten most common birds at Kole during 2017 are,
Garganey 12,750
Little Cormorant 4,751
Little Egret 3,743
Gray-headed Swamphen 2,738
Northern Pintail 2,600
Wood Sandpiper 2,128
Cattle Egret 1,304
Little Stint 1,004
Glossy Ibis 985
Whiskered Tern 983
About 100 birdwatchers participated in the count, and we went to ten different sites within Kole. The teams were led by Praveen ES, Dileep KG, Rafi K, Raju S, Shino Jacob, Premchand R, Vishnu Kartha, Shajahan, Manoj Karingamadathil, Chitra Bhanu, Anith Anilkumar, Sreekumar ER, Syamlil MS, Greeshma Paleri. The survey was jointly organized by the Kerala State Forest Department, KoleBirders, Indian Bird Conservation Network – IBCN, BirdCount India and Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University.
Mr. Rajesh Ravindran I.F.S., Chief Conservator of Forests, Central Circle inaugurated the count, while Patil Suyog Subashrao I.F.S., DFO Thrissur and Akhil VB Range Forest Officer were present.
—Nameer PO, AWC State coordinator
Table 1. The number of waterbirds of Kole Wetlands, 2017
(Species Name, Species Count)
1. Lesser Whistling-Duck 361
2. Cotton Pygmy-Goose 198
3. Indian Spot-billed Duck 571
4. Northern Shoveler 20
5. Northern Pintail 2,600
6. Garganey 12,750
7. Green-winged Teal 50
8. duck sp. 3,275
9. Little Grebe 105
10. Asian Openbill 87
11. Woolly-necked Stork 58
12. White Stork 3
13. Painted Stork 606
14. Little Cormorant 4,751
15. Great Cormorant 400
16. Indian Cormorant 843
17. Little/Indian Cormorant 533
18. cormorant sp. 40
19. Oriental Darter 139
20. Spot-billed Pelican 3
21. Yellow Bittern 7
22. Cinnamon Bittern 1
23. Gray Heron 65
24. Purple Heron 83
25. Great Egret 377
26. Intermediate Egret 971
27. Little Egret 3,743
28. Cattle Egret 1,304
29. white egret sp. 2,718
30. Indian Pond-Heron 731
31. Striated Heron 1
32. Black-crowned Night-Heron 42
33. Glossy Ibis 985
34. Black-headed Ibis 377
35. Eurasian Spoonbill 50
36. Osprey 4
37. Greater Spotted Eagle 6
38. Booted Eagle 6
39. Eurasian Marsh-Harrier 42
40. Montagu’s Harrier 1
41. Brahminy Kite 65
42. White-breasted Waterhen 61
43. Ruddy-breasted Crake 5
44. Baillon’s Crake 2
45. Watercock 6
46. Gray-headed Swamphen 2,738
47. Eurasian Moorhen 3
48. Eurasian Coot 602
49. Black-winged Stilt 105
50. Pacific Golden-Plover 21
51. Gray-headed Lapwing 3
52. Red-wattled Lapwing 98
53. Little Ringed Plover 221
54. Pheasant-tailed Jacana 155
55. Bronze-winged Jacana 162
56. Eurasian Curlew 8
57. Black-tailed Godwit 338
58. Ruff 15
59. Curlew Sandpiper 10
60. Temminck’s Stint 3
61. Little Stint 1,004
62. Common Snipe 3
63. Pin-tailed Snipe 2
64. snipe sp. 14
65. Common Sandpiper 172
66. Green Sandpiper 12
67. Common Greenshank 115
68. Marsh Sandpiper 101
69. Wood Sandpiper 2,128
70. Small Pratincole 50
71. shorebird sp. 100
72. Gull-billed Tern 12
73. Whiskered Tern 983
74. River Tern 95
Total – 48319
One thought on “Summary on the Kole Wetlands bird count- 2017 held on 1 Jan. 2017”