Chandigarh Waterfowl Census

Chandigarh Bird Club conducted its semi-annual waterfowl census on 28 February 2021. Departing from earlier such counts, when three teams covered three tracts in Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, this time we included Ghaggar River, Motemajra, and Dhanas. Four teams covered one of these areas, and counted the number of waterfowl of each species and the number of arboreal species.

Ghaggar Team

1. Sarbjeet Kaur
2. Amandeep Singh Channa

Motemajra Team

1. Geeta Goswami
2. Karmannye Chaudhary
3. Vishal Sharma
4. Manjot Singh

Dhanas Team

1. Subhash Sapru
2. Lalit Mohan Bansal

Sukhna Team

1. Simmi Waraich
2. Saroj Gulati

We counted 2040 waterfowl with 53 species, and 46 arboreal species

The results can be found here:

Sr No	Waterfowl Species	Motemajra	Sukhna Lake	Ghaggar	Dhanas	Total
1	Coot, Eurasian	35	8	1	7	51
2	Cormorant, Great	10	14		1	25
3	Cormorant, Indian	13				13
4	Cormorant, Little	15	2	1	1	19
5	Duck, Brahminy	1	52	21		74
6	Duck, Indian Spot-billed	10	32	26	11	79
7	Duck, Knob-billed/Comb	6	1			7
8	Duck, Tufted				12	12
9	Egret, Cattle	4		21		25
10	Egret, Great	1				1
11	Egret, Intermediate		4			4
12	Gadwall	2	64	50		116
13	Garganey	35				35
14	Goose, Bar-headed	60				60
15	Goose, Greylag	3				3
16	Grebe, Great Crested		2			2
17	Grebe, Little	2	1	1	5	9
18	Greenshank, Common			1		1
19	Heron, Black-crowned Night	2	11			13
20	Heron, Grey	1	2	10		13
21	Heron, Indian Pond	4	1		2	7
22	Heron, Purple	1				1
23	Ibis, Black-headed	1				1
24	Ibis, Red-naped	5		8		13
25	Jacana, Pheasant-tailed	1				1
26	Kingfisher, Common		1			1
27	Kingfisher, White-throated	1	2			3
28	Lapwing, Red-wattled	6		22	8	36
29	Lapwing, White-tailed	2		2		4
30	Moorhen, Eurasian	25	6	30	2	63
31	Pintail, Northern	50	42			92
32	Pochard, Common	20	60		19	99
33	Pochard, Ferruginous	2	14			16
34	Pochard, Red-crested		1			1
35	Redshank, Common			1		1
36	Redshank, Spotted			1		1
37	Ruff			1		1
38	Sandpiper, Common		1	2	2	5
39	Sandpiper, Green	3		1		4
40	Sandpiper, Wood	1		4		5
41	Shoveler, Northern	200	36	24		260
42	Stilt, Black-winged	22		255	3	280
43	Stint, Temminck’s			4		4
44	Stork, Asian Openbill			3		3
45	Stork, Painted			1		1
46	Swamphen, Purple	12	2			14
47	Teal, Common	80	2	405		487
48	Wagtail, Citrine			2		2
49	Wagtail, Grey		3	1		4
50	Wagtail, White	15		2		17
51	Wagtail, Yellow			2		2
52	Waterhen, White-breasted	7	2	8		17
53	Wigeon, Eurasian	30	2			32
	Total	688	368	911	73	2040

Sr No	Arboreal Species
1	Avadavat, Red
2	Babbler, Black-chinned
3	Babbler, Jungle
4	Babbler, Yellow-eyed
5	Barbet, Brown-headed
6	Bee-eater, Green
7	Bulbul, Red-vented
8	Chat, Indian
9	Chiffchaff, Common
10	Coucal, Greater
11	Crow, House
12	Dove, Eurasian Collared
13	Dove, Laughing
14	Dove, Red-collared
15	Dove, Spotted
16	Drongo, Black
17	Fantail, Whote-throated
18	Francolin, Black
19	Francolin, Grey
20	Junglefowl, Red
21	Kite, Black
22	Martin, Common House
23	Minivet, Long-tailed
24	Myna, Common
25	Myna/Starling, Asian Pied
26	Parakeet, Alexandrine
27	Parakeet, Rose-ringed
28	Peafowl, Indian
29	Pigeon, Feral Rock
30	Pigeon, Yellow-footed Green
31	Pipit, Paddyfield
32	Prinia, Ashy
33	Prinia, Graceful
34	Prinia, Plain
35	Robin, Oriental Magpie
36	Roller, Indian
37	Shikra
38	Shrike, Long-tailed
39	Sparrow, House
40	Sparrow, Sind
41	Sunbird, Purple
42	Treecreeper, Bar-tailed
43	Treepie, Rufous
44	Warbler, Hume’s
45	Whitethroat, Lesser
46	Woodpecker, Black-rumped Flameback

The number of species and the count for Sukhna Lake has both decreased since last February, when 734 waterfowl with 28 species were recorded. However, since we do not have a conclusive data for Motemajra, Dhanas, and Ghaggar River, we cannot ascertain whether the number has decreased or increased. But, it is concerning that the number for Sukhna Lake, which used to around 4200 in March 2017, is now just 368.