The beautification drive launched by the government along the banks of the Jehlum river has the makings of another eco-disaster. This drive was meant to provide a much needed facelift to the river as it flowed through the city. There is no doubt that the river presents a much more attractive picture in the civil lines area but like most quick-fixes this beauty may come at a high price. Dozens of chinars in the ambit of the beautification drive are dying. Nobody seems to have told the powers-that-be that river banks form an extensive eco-system in themselves with unique plant and animal populations. Aquatic birds like waders and kingfishers thrive here, as do dragonflies and a wide variety of aquatic plants. The chinars around the Kashmir Arts Emporium and Radio Kashmir complexes are home to the largest surviving heronry in Srinagar. Otters are probably already extinct in kashmir, as readers may remember from an earlier post.

You cannot just dig up all the banks and cut down all the trees and replace them with walls of stone and cultivated grass. But that is exactly what is happening. Such environmental disasters due to lack of foresight have occurred earlier, most notably when the conversion of the Mar canal to a metalled road choked Srinagar's main water-bodies, and when the diversion of the Doodh Ganga river into the Hokersar Game Reserve condemned it to a slow death by siltation.

I have a suggestion - a green belt of chinars, willows and similar trees along the embankments, along with creation of some sandbanks and reed-beds can provide the necessary habitat for aquatic wildlife. In other other states projects are assessed for environment impact assessment. Since I am not an expert we need specialists in this field to get involved in increasing the eco-friendliness of the Jehlum River Project. Any takers?

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