What are the findings of the census conducted in the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) region to record the presence of uncommon species?

The census conducted in the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) region including the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary and parts of Mada forest and Papikondalu regions.
Findings of the census:

• The number of water bird species has declined by half in most habitats across the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) region. 
• The number of waterbird species has come down to half compared with the Asian Waterbird Census 2017. 
• Uncommon bird species such as Eurasian spoonbill or common spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), Oyster catcher (Haematopus ostralegus) and Yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) were recorded.  Yellow bittern was not recorded in previous census.
• A total of 23,779 birds of 85 waterbird species, including 34 migratory, 30 resident and breeding, five local migratory and 12 local or migratory species, were recorded.
• Of the 85 recorded species 57 are least concern, 17 were not evaluated, 10 of them were near threatened and one is globally endangered waterbird species.

Topics: GS-III: Conservation Environmental Pollution Degradation