View source for Delhi: Birds

=Vultures=
==2019/ Himalayan Griffon vultures==
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL/2019/11/18&entity=Ar00618&sk=F6442DFD&mode=text  Shilpy Arora, Nov 18, 2019: ''The Times of India'']

[[File: Himalayan Griffon vulture.jpg|Himalayan Griffon vulture <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL/2019/11/18&entity=Ar00618&sk=F6442DFD&mode=text  Shilpy Arora, Nov 18, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]

It has been five years since the Himalayan vulture was spotted in the Delhi-NCR. So, when Vijay Dhasmana and Ram Veer spotted a flock of 15 at the Aravali Biodiversity Park, they were surprised.

“We often see Egyptian vultures here. But on Saturday, around 4pm, I saw vultures with very big wingspans. It was unusual. When it was roosting in the park, I took a few photos. Later, birders confirmed they were Himalayan Griffon vultures,” said Vijay Dhasmana, an ecologist from IAmGurgaon, an environment NGO.

Around the same time, Ram Veer, a birder from Saket in Delhi also spotted the vulture. “I had seen Himalayan vultures in the Himalayas earlier. It was surprising to see it here. I saw them land in the park,” he said. The following morning, Pankaj Gupta from the Delhi Bird Foundation spotted two Himalayan vultures. “I waited nearly two hours for sunlight so I could take better photos,” the north India coordinator of e-bird, an online database of bird sightings said.

The Himalayan Griffon, identified as a ‘near threatened’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is revered in Tibetan culture as the “feeder of the dead in the afterlife”. It moves in loose flocks from the Himalayan range to winter in peninsular India and has a distinct appearance, with an immense wing span. “There have been a few sightings in the past — the last was 2014 in Okhla — but it has not been very common in the region. I hope it winters in Delhi-NCR this year,” Gupta added.

And the way to ensure that is to protect the Aravalis. “The park’s flora and fauna attract these birds. There is a need to not only conserve but also increase that,” said Dhasmana. “Another major threat to vulture populations in the region had been diclofenac, a painkiller administered to animals. Vultures would ingest the medicine when they ate the carcasses, which would make their egg shells weak and difficult to hatch. This led to a decline in their population since the 1990s,” said Ram Veer. And while air quality has not shown a direct impact on migratory patterns, its long-term effect is yet to be seen and understood.

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