A pair of Greater Adjutants in Bhagalpur. Picture by Amit Kumar

The UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds will help conserve parts of river Kosi’s floodplains in Bhagalpur district, the third breeding ground for the highly endangered Greater Adjutant bird species.

Ian Barber, Asia manager of the UK-based society, recently visited some inaccessible parts of the Kosi’s diara areas in Kadwa and Khairpur panchayats of Bhagalpur district’s Naugachia sub-division and was amazed by the sheer number of Greater Adjutant nests and its breeding activities. He was accompanied by members of Mandar Nature Club (MNC), a Bhagalpur-based NGO that has been fighting for the cause of birds and wildlife.

According to an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report, Assam in India and Cambodia are known as breeding grounds for the endangered Greater Adjutant. According to last year’s census report, there are 800-1200 Greater Adjutants in the world. India alone has 950-1,000 birds. Barber said: “We are thrilled to observe this remote hinterland that has emerged as a new breeding ground, the third in the world, for this species”.

He said IUCN, through its partner Brid Life International, UK, has included the 300-strong Greater Adjutant population thriving in this Bihar hinterland in their species data fact sheet this year.

Barber appreciated the efforts of MNC activists who first observed breeding activities of the species in 2005-06. “I was told only one or two nests were spotted then. Now, look at that tree with 23 nests having chicks,” Barber said, pointing towards a huge peepal tree near Khairpur government middle school. According to him, the team has located 75 such nests of Greater Adjutants in the two localities. Many residents narrated how MNC activists managed to communicate about the importance of the bird and the need to conserve it.