Delhi: Yamuna Biodiversity Park
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Red-crested pochards
Yamuna Biodiversity Park welcomes winged guests
The Times of India, December 07 2014
Scientists are tracking the species and numbers of birds coming every year at the park to see how a managed wetland can support rich migratory bird fauna.
YBP is the only park which gets the red-crested pochards in the city according to field researchers at the park. Redcrested pochards come from central Asia, Spain and some south Asian countries. The other major attraction at the park are great cormorants, found in North America, Europe, Africa, China, India, southeast Asia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia. “Summer breeding occurs in patches through much of central Asia up to eastern China, year-round wintering occurs in India and southern China, and birds can be found wintering in southeast Asia,“ according to Birdlife.org. Other birds that can be seen now are shovelers, pintails, gadwalls and darters.
“We mostly get birds from central Asia, Siberia and Europe. I have heard that this year arrival of migratory birds in other parts of northern India has been slow but at the YBP we have seen a stable trend for the last few years,“ said Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in-charge at Yamuna Biodiversity Park.
Snakes: Enhydris seiboldii
The Times of India, Jul 18 2015
Jayashree Nandi
GREEN REVIVAL - Snakes last seen in 1940s found at Yamuna bio park
Creepy-crawlies best avoided by most have been enchanting a team of scientists at Yamuna Biodiversity Park. They recently came across an adult Enhydris seiboldii, a smooth-scaled, mildly venomous water snake with an intricately-patterned skin in the company of its two newborns in a swamp inside the park.
Commonly known as Seibold's water snake, it may have been last seen in the capital in the 1940s, the team has subsequently found. Members are jubilant as it's an indicator that important swamp reptile species can be revived--with some effort.
Not much is known about this species of snake. It's not a very rare one for other river or swamp habitats. But in Delhi it is really rare. The snake was last mentioned as part of fauna in British India in 1943 by Smith. The same reference appears in a publication by Zoological Survey of India in 1996.
“They may not have had the habitat to breed. They don't lay eggs but give birth, being viviparous,“ says Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in charge at the park. Khudsar has released the adult and one newborn--the other is being studied and will be released in the wild soon.
A lot of common snakes are also seen very often at YBP--the wolf snake, cobra, blind snake, Indian krait, rat snakes and checkered keel back being a few. Khudsar has been looking out for snakes on the polluted Wazirabad-to-Okhla stretch along Yamuna but couldn't find any important species.
“Several things may have caused Enhydris seiboldii to disappear from Delhi. Factors include destruction of habitat, pollution in Yamuna and changes in the river system. I would say it's not a rare snake but spotting it in Delhi is im portant. It's good to know we have something important in the backyard,“ said `frogman of India' S D Biju who is also a Delhi University professor.
The rear-fanged Enhydris seiboldii has been renamed to Ferania seiboldii, feeds on fish and frogs and thrives around Eichhornia roots. “This snake is monogeneric--it belongs to one known genus. They like eating fresh water eels. Now we have an extended summer which may have affected their numbers,“ adds Debanik Mukherjee, a reptile expert.
“This snake cannot survive in polluted water. The eel, for instance, is not found widely in the Delhi stretch of Yamuna. But if the water is clean, they may come back,“ Khudsar says.
