New Delhi: Researchers looking for nesting sites of the largest group of the Greater Adjutant Stork, outside the north eastern state of Assam, regrettably drew a blank. The rare and endangered bird, the Greater Adjutant Stork (GAS), has, for the first time ever, been spotted outside Assam at the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin (VGD) Sanctuary in the north eastern state of Bhagalpur, Bihar.

What makes the sighting particularly interesting is that the GAS is found only at 2 places in the world – near the floodplains of the Brahmaputra in Assam (455 in number) and to some extent in Cambodia (100 birds) too. Also, the numbers of these birds have rapidly been dwindling and they face extinction in the near future. (It has been assigned to the status of ‘Endangered Species’ by IUCN). The detection of 20 of these birds is a positive sign to the wildlife community of the world and provides for another opportunity to save the dying species.

Though the first sighting near the Sanctuary was reported in 2001, the consistent presence of the GAS needed to be verified. Therefore, in order to study the habitation and nesting of the bird in Bhagalpur, the Vikramshila Biodiversity Research & Education Centre, funded by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), conducted a field study of the Sanctuary and the area around it. 15 survey trips were organized between June 2002 and April 2003. The survey established that there was a population of GAS in and around the VGD. The joint report has recorded the details of the nesting trees in that area, the kind of trees, number of nests, the anthropogenic activities of the bird and so on.

In Assam, where the largest population of the Greater Adjutant Stork is found, the WTI had earlier joined hands with Aranyak, a local NGO, to protect GAS chicks falling out of their nests. The little chicks faced a unique problem. The bird builds its nest on very tall trees – as high as 65 to 100 feet. The branches of these trees could only bear the weight of the birds while the hatchlings are small. When the young chicks grow, their increased weight and that of their parents caused the tree branches to break and the nest would crash to the ground. Many of these hatchlings either died instantly or were left injured only to be consumed by dogs, jackals etc. Freak storms, called Kalbaisakhi, sweep across through eastern and north-eastern India during January and April and also throw the nests off the trees. Deforestation too has indirectly led to these ‘fall’ deaths. The storks nest in communities. So, a single tree could be home to a dozen nests. As the availability of trees decreases, the pressure on each accessible tree increases, thereby forcing some storks to settle for the not-so-suitable, weak branches.

Prof. P.C.Bhattacharjee, an academic from the Guwahati University and a Trustee of the Wildlife Trust of India, came up with an easy solution to save stork chicks. Since he is a keen cricketer, his remedy to this problem also came from the cricket field. Safety nets. The birds breed from October to April and the safety nets were put around these trees in September 2000 in two nesting colonies in Khutikhatia and North Haibargaon. The nets, made of thick nylon lined with soft muslin cloth, protected as many as 42 nests. Each nest usually has two to four chicks.

The nets proved to be a life-saver. During the 2000 to 2001 breeding season, 21 chicks were rescued. The chicks were returned to the nests of their parents, which willingly accepted their young ones. However, when it was difficult to determine which nest the chicks fell from, the young storks were hand-reared. Of the 21 chicks recovered in 2000 to 2001, 15 were returned to their parents and six had to be hand-reared in a bird rehabilitation center.

Local people, near the VGD Sanctuary, have reported seeing the GAS throughout the year and in large numbers during October and February.