While the Greater adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius) population of the world is seeing a general decline, a recently discovered population in Bihar has been growing steadily, says Arvind Mishra, member of the State Wildlife Board, Government of Bihar.
“The population of Greater adjutant storks in Bhagalpur district has increased almost two folds as compared to last year, to at least 157 individuals if not more,” said Mishra, who along with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is working to conserve the species in the state.
Mishra, an executive committee member of the Mandar Nature Club in Bhagalpur, discovered the breeding population of the storks along the Kosi and Ganga flood plains in the winter of 2006. Prior to this, they were known only from Cambodia and the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, with the worldwide count of less than 800 individuals.