40 Lesser floricans spotted this season in 4 MP districts

The number of Lesser floricans, an endangered species of migratory birds, visiting western Madhya Pradesh has increased this year due to improvement of their habitat, an official said Sunday.

Ornithologist Ajay Gadikar, who has been working with the state's Forest department to attract the birds, said that 40 Lesser floricans have been spotted this season in four districts of the state.

Gadikar said that 11 of them were spotted in Kharmore Sanctuary in Sardarpur in Dhar district, 16 in Neemuch district, nine in Jhabua and four in Ratlam.

He said that 22 birds, also called likh or kharmore in MP, had visited the state last year.

"We have spotted six male and five female kharmores in our sanctuary. Last year, we saw only one male likh here," said Forest Sub Divisional Officer Rakesh Kumar Damor.

Damor claimed that the forest department's efforts to better the habitat of these migratory birds had paid off.

Every year, the birds migrate to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat in July, and live there for around four months before flying off elsewhere. They are found only in the Indian subcontinent.

A 2017 survey by the Wildlife Institute of India had revealed that the number these birds from the Bustard family had nosedived by 80 per cent in the last 17 years.

The survey held that construction activity, urbanisation and over-grazing of grasslands were destroying the birds' habitats, while predators such as stray dogs and other feral animals were preying on the birds' eggs.