The long-tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis, a rare duck specie is usually found in the European and American continents
RH Desk
January 23
Srinagar (India): The long-tailed Duck, Clangula hyemalis, a rare duck specie found in European and American continents has been sighted in Wular lake in the state of Jammu and Kashmir nearly after 84 years.
According to the officials, a group of five ducks, a highly vulnerable species on the IUCN Red list, were seen foraging in Wular lake on Sunday by the field officials of Wular Conservation and Management Authority.
The officials of the Wular Conservation and Management Authority recorded its details on their field book and captured camera pictures of ducks.
A senior official said that the “pictures were shared with ornithologists for identification and it was discovered that the birds are in fact, rare migrants known as Long Tailed Duck.”
Officials maintain that the last record of this bird was reported from Hokersar lake Kashmir in 1939 as mentioned by F. Ludlow in a research paper published in “The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society”.
“It is after 84 years that bird has been spotted again in Kashmir and has been documented now. There are only a few sites in India that meet the “1% criteria” necessary for the survival and propagation of this duck specie,” the officials said.
The Wular lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia having an area of 130 Sqkm. The lake has a silt and willow infestation problem which is being mitigated by carrying out large-scale earth excavation and willow removals.
