Rediscovery of bird thought to be extinct pinpoints need for grasslands

New Delhi, Aug 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) It was a normal day for Kaushik Sarkar when he was out at the crack of dawn in the Tarai region of northern Uttar Pradesh.

It was June and the biologist had set out with his team, exploring the Sharda riverine belt as "that was one place where people were not actually focusing around".

In the course of their systematic survey along this riverine belt and while scanning for other birds in the region, Pravar Maurya, his teammate, thought that he had heard the call of a Jerdon's Babbler, an elusive brown bird, that had not been sighted for the past 14 years in that reserve.

The sound of the bird matched on the spectrogram and that confirmed its presence. It was a moment to celebrate.

It came as a surprise, but given the plethora of unofficial records around the place, they had an inkling of the presence of the shy Jerdon's Blabber. The team set out after the bird.

This wetland- and grassland-dwelling bird is endemic to the Indian sub-continent, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1994.

The Sharda riverine ecosystem adjoins the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve -- an expansive region that includes forest and grassland, which can be very dynamic during the monsoons and the ensuing floods. This causes changes in the grassland dynamics, affecting the habitat of several species living in it.

The Jerdon’s Blabber suddenly appeared before the biologists. "Once you see an individual, you can spot another," Kaushik recalled. The team spotted four Jerdon's Blabbers and photographed one.

He described the bird as dull brown in colour, but "if you compare it with other dull brown birds, it is slightly brighter and has a white throat. It just stood out so we were able to spot it."

Although the last sighting of the bird was more than a decade ago, "it is not a great length of time to say that the bird is probably gone", the biologist maintained.

The Jerdon’s Blabber is known to be in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan as well. It is likely that the bird is present in the regions along the length of the Sharda river.

But what does it mean to find a little bird that doesn't like attention and was thought to be extinct?

"It is a good marker," said Anup Prakash Bokkasa, who's also with The Habitats Trust like Kaushik and Pravar. "The presence of lesser-seen, vulnerable species is an indicator of the health of an ecosystem and its ability to sustain thriving flora and fauna.

"Like all shy birds, it is restricted to very small pockets. In the North, there are only five-six places where you will be able to definitely see them."

Given that the Jerdon’s Blabber is a small, shy and elusive bird that can easily disappear into the grassland, one might think that there may be plenty more just not recorded yet.

Anup pointed out: "We can't say with confidence that there are plenty more -- plenty gives some sort of false reassurance. Also, potentially there could be more because some sections of the habitat exist."

He concluded by saying: "So, the answer to your question is that there is something worth fighting for. The situation is not completely hopeless. Of course, valuable grasslands are more or less gone, but the fact that we find such grassland-obligate species still hanging around here and there tells us that maybe if we put enough effort to conserve these habitats, we may still be able to protect, conserve and save these grassland species."

He added: "Note that it's not just inside protected area where Kaushik and Pravar found the Jerdon's Blabber, but at the edge very edge, and some such habitats still exist outside protected areas along rivers."

At a time when a debate is raging over the advisability of the move to relocate Namibian cheetahs to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, the spotting of the bird believed to be extinct, according to scientists, underlines the importance of conserving a species in its own habitat for it to thrive.

Grasslands in India are languishing in the absence of concentrated efforts to revive and conserve them. Laws pertaining to wildlife and forests apply to grasslands only if they fall in reserved areas.

India has lost a considerable portion of its grasslands, which now add up to nearly 24 per cent of its total geographical area. About 17 per cent of land in the country, comprising ravine grasslands, shrublands, water-logged and marshy areas, and pastures, are written off as wasteland.

Grasslands are important for the protection of human settlements from seasonal flood cycles. The recent floods in the national capital and the swelling of the Yamuna are arguably due to the absence of grasslands around the region.

The team of biologists behind the re-discovery of the Jerdon's Blabber is from The Habitats Trust, a non-profit focused on the conservation of lesser-known species and habitats that are threatened.

(Kavya Dubey may be reached at kavya.d@ians.in)
 

Source: IANS