Nature’s Amazing Act of Regeneration
Bewilder with “Yeses” and “Nos”, I decided to accompany my Chadhei Club
voluntaries on an awareness drive of ground nesting birds in Hirakud
Reservoir. Every summer birds namely Little
Tern, Oriental Pratincole, Small Pratincole, River Tern, Black-winged Stilt,
Little Ringed Plover, Red-wattled Lapwing nest in different locations in
Hirakud Reservoir. These birds breeds in summer on the shore of reservoir and
on islands that pops out once water level recedes. Of these migratory Little Tern and Oriental Pratincole need special mention because of their choice of
Hirakud Reservoir as breeding destination.
At the dawn of 13th May’25 we five members team boarded a
car to reach Zero Point (Dhurookusum),
the entry gate to Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary (DWLS). Time was about half past
six in the morning and we had driven nearly 42kms from Sambalpur city. The trip
was facilitated by DFO Hirakud Wildlife Division Ms.Anshu Pragyan Das. At the
gate we met the designated officer who arranges our entry to the sanctuary. Of the gate our car drove to Barakhandia
tourist facility from where we were to board a boat for islands inside Hirakud
Reservoir.
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| Little Terns on Landmark-1 Islet |
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| Small Pratincoles on Landmark-1 Islet |
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| Little Tern on Nest (Insert image of eggs) |
With navigator-boatmen Mr.Iswar Sahu and Mr. Dloeewar Naik our boat journey
begun in the unfathomable water of Hirakud Reservoir around 7.30am. The first
island we touched was Bat Island (Famous
for housing Fruit Bats or Flying Foxes). We didn’t notice any ground nests
here. We were told that nesting in the island was almost over. But surprise was
in store. In the middle of ride to the island we received a grand welcome by pair of
Indian Skimmer (IUCN Endangered list),
a rarely sighted bird here. In person that was my second sighting of the Scissor
bird in Hirakud.
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| Nesting Small Pratincole |
From
Bat Island to Landmark-1
(infront of
Sunset Island), the ride
was about quarter of an hour. It was more precisely a sandy islet which
protrudes out every summer as reservoir water level recedes. Approximate area of
the islet looks less than an acre. The islet was full of gravels, few bulging
stones and with very little green cover. What we saw there was unbelievable, hundreds of migratory
Little Terns
and resident
Small Pratincoles all bustling
with nesting activities. What a pleasant sight of composed nature creating so many new lives in one corner of the earth.
Reference documents indicate
that the migratory Little Terns to
Hirakud Reservoir might originate from costal breeding sites in India or
northern populations migrating from central Asia or the Himalayas (?). Many of
us do not know that breeding of Little
Terns (May-July) in such large number in Hirakud Reservoir is rarest of
rare event. Here is a job for researchers to find out why over years a coastline
breeder Little Tern choosing inland
Hirakud Reservoir Islands for breeding?
 |
Nesting Oriental Pratincoles at Bad Jor
|
Not far from Landmark-1 islet, the Sunset Island bears no sign of ground nests. During monsoon the Sunset Island doesn’t get buried under
the reservoir water unlike many others. And, thus the island serves as rescue
centre for reptiles washed away by flooding water. Probably due to large
presence of snakes and other predatory reptiles ground nesting birds avoids Sunset Island for breeding. Two islands –
hardly two hundred meter apart-- one is paradise of ground nest, where as other
bears no sign of it. Amazing nature!!
 |
| Oriental Pratincoles at Bad Jor |
From Sunset Island we
boated to the shore of Bada Jor, the
landmass that was connected to the sanctuary. There we witness a loose colony of 35-40 Oriental Pratincoles in hectic nesting activities. Primarily from April to June they breed
in loose colonies often on grassy island or near wetland. Off late scientists
and bird-tagger have discovered that this wing guest from Australia make
remarkable journey through Southeast Asia to Odisha. Besides Oriental Pratincole there were two pairs
of Red-wattled Lawping also nesting
in that vicinity. It was observed that each attempt of Jungle Crow to steal their eggs was vehemently chased away by Oriental Pratincole and Red-wattled Lapwing in synchrony. After a while our boatmen anchored to shore, we had our carried breakfast- Upama,
Roti & curry on board. Happy stomach said thank you.
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| Red-wattled Lapwings at Kendutal |
Out of Bada Jor we rode to nearby
Kendutal, a fishing hamlet. The jaws
of the hamlet connecting to the picturesque reservoir bank look splendid. Good
news was that the fishermen living there never intrude to islands sticked with
red flags, a signage not to disturb breeding area for birds. That was indeed a
big thumb up for the forest department’s constant effort to educate fishermen.
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| Breeding island sticked with red flag: Signage for no entry zone |
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| Little Ringed Plover of Kendutal |
Away from Kendutal
fishing hamlet our team once again returned to Landmark-1 islet. Two of the
club voluntaries did the on field photographic documentation. I remain seated
on the boat as the temperature (42oc) was too harsh for me to get
out. The club voluntaries reported over hundred of nests of Little Tern and Small Pratincole. They also found five Black-winged stilt nests. Indeed the islet was nesting paradise for
Little Tern and Small Pratincole.
 |
| River Tern at Kendutal |
On return journey we took lot of ORS fluid and cucumber slices to rekindle
ourselves. We landed at Barakhandia
jetty at 12.40pm to end the voyage. All the way I was thinking how to encapsulate
the day’s effort. Could be these borrowed lines of Yuval Noah Harari author of "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" has envisioned, which read as “Don’t
believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature.
Long before the Industrial Revolution, Homo sapiens held the record among all
organism for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinction. We
have dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of
biology.”Question is can we stay put human intervention?
****
Text and Photos by Ranjit Sahu
Acknowledgement: My sincere thanks to DFO
Hirakud Wildlife Division Ms.Anshu Pragyan Das for facilitating the tour. Also,
thanks to both the navigator-boatmen for their immense patience. Finally, I owe
a special mention of young voluntaries of Chadhei
Club, Sambalpur for sharing their field findings.
References: 1.
Wikipedia, 2.Personal interviews, 3. Bird Count India (https://birdcount.in), 4.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
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