Endangered state bird spotted in Nameri

Guwahati: In a successful conservation initiative, the white-winged wood duck (deo hanh in Assamese), the state bird of Assam has been spotted in an artificial pond "Neelmoni Beel" at Nameri Tiger Reserve (NTR).The information was shared by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through a social media post on Thursday. "In Nameri Tiger Reserve, we tried a new experiment for conservation of White Winged Wood Duck (WWWD). Based on careful study of their habitat conditions, we created an artificial Beel "Neelmoni Beel". The result? A WWWD was spotted in the Beel, making the effort a great success," CM wrote on X. Authorities took up the conservation project in 2023 to study the status and distribution pattern of the duck species in NTR and adjoining areas. Talking to TOI, Piraisoodan B, the field director of NTR, said, "The objective of the project was to understand micro-habitat preferences of WWWD. There are some ponds in Nameri which have been highly used by the species. We later created new water bodies replicating those. On Wednesday, we witnessed a duck in one of the artificially created habitat. A total of four such habitats have been created in NTR under the project. This is the first such initiative that creates new habitats to restore their population."The bird is an endangered duck species found in northeast India and Southeast Asia. Its wild population is estimated to around 1000 globally.
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