One of the great pleasures of birding is sighting a new species which has not been recorded earlier in the region.

Earlier this week I observed and photographed a Rosy Starling in the Zabarvan foothills. It is quite a rare sighting since the Rosy Starling is classified as a "not common passage migrant" in Kashmir on the basis of individual records.


In March 2007, I photographed this Chaffinch on the banks of the Dal Lake. It is the first time ever that this species has been reported from Kashmir.


Unlike its cousins, the Plumbeous and White-capped Redstarts, which are quite common near water, the Common Redstart has never been reported from Kashmir. I photographed this bird in May 2006 in a willow on the banks of the Jehlum at Shivpora. The photo caused a fair bit of interest and was studied by the foremost avifauna experts. However, due to the sub-optimal quality of the photograph, the verdict was inconclusive.

As per the 2009 official census the Hangul population has been estimated at 175 individuals. The census of 2004 estimated the population at 197 while in 2008 it had reduced to 127. The census was carried out in Zabarwan and adjoining forest ranges by the Department of Wildlife, Wildlife Trust of India and Wildlife SOS.

The Central Wildlife Warden, Rashid Naqash, stressed the importance of the the male, female and fawn ratio. The 2009 census indicated that for every 100 females, there are 27 males and 28 fawns as compared to 23 and 9 in the last census.

A word of appreciation for Arif Shafi Wani, who regularly highlights ecological and wildlife issues in Greater Kashmir. His efforts along with a handful of other concerned citizens may yet save the Hangul. More power to your pen, brother.


News Links:

Rare Kashmir deer makes comeback

Silver Lining For Endangered Hangul

Hangul not to hang from fine thread




Image copyright Dr. Bakshi Jehangir

Today a newspaper carried a front page story about the first-ever sighting of a rare duck in Kashmir. It quoted the "Chief Wet Life Warden" - probably the Wildlife Warden for Wetlands - claiming that the Common Shelduck was spotted for the first time ever in Kashmir this year. Funnily enough, these claims have been made before - the Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) regularly features in lists of migratory birds visiting Kashmir - for example this Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands compiled by World Wide Fund for Nature- India and Department of Wildlife Protection, Government of J & K or this official news report from 2000. The Common Shelduck is classified as "species of least concern" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Another news article while quoting the same official repeats these claims about the Common Shelduck and also the Gadwall, which even the first article lists as a common migratory species! This article reports that these "first-ever" sightings were "confirmed by Dr. Asad Rahmani, noted ornithologist and Director Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), who visited Hokersar recently" . The wildlife staff at Hokersar pointed out a flock of Common Shelducks when I visited last winter but I cannot be sure of the ID as there were thousands of ducks flying around. Gadwalls, though, are a common enough visiting species.

Our worthy senior wildlife official further claimed that the Pheasant-tailed Jacana had not been observed in Kashmir since 1980 when in fact it breeds in the valley and I regularly observe these birds on the Dal Lake in summer!

I hope the encouragingly increasing numbers of migratory birds visiting our wetlands are calculated by scientific methods of observation and are not cooked up like duck egg omelettes :-)



News Links:

Common Shell Duck spotted first time in Kashmir

Migratory Birds Making a Beeline for Kashmir

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Happy New Year.

Let us start off this year on an optimistic note. If you have been following the fatal spiral of large predators into extinction due to the Man-Animal Conflict, there is some good news with a scientific program based on radio-collar and GPS tracking of black bears being initiated in Kashmir. One wonders what became of the equally hyped radio-collar Hangul tracking program launched earlier.

News Link:
Government wakes up to man-animal conflict

The future of the splendid Kashmir Markhor [Capra falconeri cashmiriensis] may also be more secure with central funds being released directly to the state for the conservation of its habitat. Let us be thankful too that official permission to hunt an endangered species is not obtainable in Kashmir. Unfortunately, as the next news item reports, you can buy a permit to shoot the "National Animal" elsewhere.

News Links:
Conservation plans for bearded goat in J&K
Norwegian pays $81,200 for Markhor hunting in Pakistan



More information about the Markhor is available here:
Markhor Wikipedia Entry



Image Courtesy : Wikipedia Commons

I was recently asked whether I was a conservationist or an environmentalist. I must confess that I had not given much thought to the difference between the two. I have since sought to enlighten myself and want to share some thoughts with my readers. Apparently conservationists believe in scientifically managed use of natural resources while environmentalists maintain that "nature knows best" and our remaining wildernesses should be left unmanaged for anything except primitive recreation. They believe human intervention is generally harmful to natural resources.

As for myself, I have somewhat of a split personality while it comes to managing our natural resources. At heart I am a hard-core environmentalist. For example, I am appalled at plans to convert the Bangus Valley into a major tourist resort. I have trekked through Bangus in the eighties and the thought that this wild paradise will soon be commercialised into a circus like Pahalgam torments my soul. I hope that a saner voice will call for preservation and the 'powers-that-be' shall listen. However my optimism is tempered with a strong streak of realism. Political opportunism - combined with the fact that economic backwardness forces people in rural areas to jump on to the tourism bandwagon - means that areas like the Bangus Valley are doomed to progress. Kashmir is a small valley with an exponentially increasing population and the pressure on our natural resources like land and water is immense. Even the most die-hard optimist will concede that commercialisation is inevitable, so the logical next step is to ensure at least that that it is managed properly. That is the conservationist point of view - to which I am a reluctant subscriber.