Heronry Survey 2019
GUJARAT HERONRY SURVEY PROGRAM – 2019
As you know, BCSG members are always actively involved in bird-related activities, surveys and scientific researches/observations. This monsoon BCSG has planned to conduct ‘Heronry Survey’ in the State. Our state is rich in wetlands and also in variety and number of water birds. Monsoon is the season when some of the resident water birds do colonial nesting. We have decided to carry out survey of these colonies, known as ‘Heronries’.
We have appointed district co-ordinators to monitor this exercise at the respective district level. We request you to share your information on heronries with the co-ordinators so that this year’s data can be collected by the volunteers. If you are interested in participating in the field activity on voluntary basis you may contact your respective co-ordinators. Knowledgeable people not happen to be members may join in the exercise with the permission of the co-ordinators.
For Data sheet please click below text link
HERONRY GUJARATI DATA SHEET HERONRY ENGLISH DATA SHEET
List of district co-ordinators for the Heronry Count (in alphabetical order):
Ahemdabad and Gandhinagar: Sunil Kini 9825483355, Kartik Shastri 9824025045, Arif Theba 8758786376
Amreli: Bhanubhai Adhvaryu 9428198711
Anand, Kheda, Nadiad: Yagnesh Bhatt 9426554158
Banaskantha: Kailashbhai Jani 9427515170
Bharuch, Narmada: Jugal Patel 8780157857, Hiren Majithia 9662514855
Bhavnagar, Botad: Dr. Indra Gadhvi 94271827255, Tejas Doshi 9426454100
Dahod: Sakir Kadiwala 9428550878, Nilam Patel 9099882999
Jamnagar, Dwarka: Yashodhan Bhatia 9824040409, Kunal Joshi 9426927201, Dhaval Vargiya 9824822855
Junagadh, Gir-Somnath: Gaurang Bagda 9909187737
Kachchh: Shantibhai Varu 9925730354, Devesh Gadhvi 9898206959
Navsari: Rajendra Desai 9426808501, Minal Patel 9428631928
Panchmahal, Mahisagar: Raghuvirsinhji Jadeja 9427249866
Patan, Mahesana: Pankaj Maheria 9974742904
Porbandar: Dhaval Varagiya 9824822855
Rajkot, Morbi: Ashokbhai 9879758818, Sunil Moteria 9825673334, Arif theba 875876376
Sabarkantha, Aravalli: Mayur Rathod 9426506994
Surat, Tapi, Dang: Snehal Patel 9825110283, Anand Patel 9879553565
Surendranagar: Nirav Bhatt 9879333224
Vadodara: Dr. Anika Tere 9825873460, Neel Solanki 9725202440
Valsad: Piyush Patel 9824134177, Mohammadbhai Jat 9427140296
For further Information and Program contact: Dr. Bakul Trivedi 19/414, Satyagrah Chhavani, Satellite Road, Ahemedabad-380 015, Mobile No.:98256 29587
Introduction:
Herons and egrets belonging to the family Ardeidae, are colonial-nesters. The place where they make their nests is called Heronry. Several other waterbirds, particularly the cormorants (Family Phalacrocoracidae), ibises and spoonbills (Family Threskiornithidae) and storks (Family Ciconiidae) also nest in such colony and hence, included in the definition of “heronry”. Generally few to several pairs of these birds make their nest on vegetation (trees, bushes) during the breeding season, i.e. during southwest monsoon.
The primary factors supporting nesting are food availability for the parents as well as their chicks, nesting sites (tree/shrubs), and protection. The heronries are generally located near or at the edge of pond, lake, river or sea. Some heronries are found within the pond, on island or in human habitation. A heronry can be composed of single species or may include several species of birds. The species known to breed in the heronry are Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Little Egret (Egrettagarzetta), Median Egret (Mesophoyxintermedia), Large Egret (Casmerodiusalbus), Black-crowned Night heron (Nycticoraxnycticorax), Indian Pond Heron (Ardeolagrayii), Little Cormorant (Phalacrocoraxniger), Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), Purple Heron (Ardeapurpurea), Grey Heron (Ardeacinerea), Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornismelanocephalus), Glossy Ibis (Plegadisfalcinellus) and Eurasian Spoonbill (Platelealeucorodia). Beside these birds, the Storks also breed in heronry. These include Openbill Stork (Anastomusoscitans), Painted Stork (Mycterialeucocephala) etc. The heronries of Reef Heron (Egretta gularis) are generally found in coastal areas, mostly on Mangrove plants.
Nesting Sites and Trees:
Generally the waterbirds prefer to nest on thorny trees like Babul and Prosopis. The nests are also found on the larger trees such as Tamarind, Banayan, Neem etc. The heronry can be small, consisting of a few nests of one or more species on a single tree or can be large, consisting of large numbers of nests of varied species on many plants. Generally the water birds prefer the same site for nesting every year, however they may leave it and choose a new site due to some disturbances. The known sites can be listed first and visited for the possibilities of the nesting. Proper observation of heronry and data collection can be done. However for the new/unknown sites, one should survey the potential sites such as village ponds, areas near river or sea coast.
Importance of Nest and Heronry Count:
Inventories of heronries may give an idea about the nesting requirements, current existing nesting sites, the type of species nesting, threats or problems related to their nesting activities. This can help to take corrective measures. The nest count is tool to monitor population size of each species of the heronry. If all the heronries of the state are counted, the nest counts can give an accurate population size of various species. This can help us to know current population status, factors affecting their nesting, create or modify the existing management plans for their conservation.
Almost all the heronry birds are Schedule I species of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Birds such as Black-headed Ibis and Painted Stork are “Near Threatened” species. The heronry count can give better idea about their current population. The count conducted for many years can enhance our understanding of their population fluctuations and distribution.
When to Count the nests:
If only one count is possible, then it can be conducted in July or August. However the proper heronry count requires regular visits of the sites since March till the end of the nesting activities. Some birds such as Night Heron start nesting in March. The egrets and Open Bill storks are at peak of their nesting activities during June, as they start nesting activities in April-May. As the nesting activities of all the heronry birds are not synchronized, all the sites should be monitored regularly at shorter intervals. The visits of heronry sites should be planned in the month of March and then regularly it should be monitored.
How to Count the nests:
The method of counting the nests depends on the nesting sites. At the sites where the trees can be approached, the nests can be counted by standing just below the nesting tree. Number of each tree should be counted separately. Total nests should be counted first starting from one point, covering the entire canopy to finish the same point. Careful observation should be done with the help of binoculars to observe the species nesting, the stage of nesting (building the nest, incubating, rearing the chicks, nest repairing etc.). This can help to get total number of nests of species in a heronry. At the site, which cannot be approached (such as islands), the counting should be done with the help of binoculars or telescope. The activities of parent birds (nesting material collection, incubating, feeding the chicks) can also be noted to understand the progress of heronry. In all cases the type of trees used for nesting (i.e. species of plant) should be noted. Its height and circumference of canopy can be noted to understand nest holding capacities of the tree. The collected information can be transferred to the data sheets properly.
Additional data:
Any threat to the birds, their nesting site (the wetland in the vicinity) or trees can be identified and mentioned. The possible measures for such threats can be planned out after necessary discussion.