Karanji Lake (Kannada: ಕಾರಂಜಿ ಕೆರೆ) is a lake located in the city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka, India. Karanji Lake was one of the favourite haunts of migratory birds like herons and egrets. But the number of bird species seems to be on the decline at Karanji Lake. This came to light when avian enthusiasts went to the lake on Sunday for birdwatching. With the assistance of naturalists, the bird enthusiasts managed to locate about 48 bird species in the lake ecosystem. D. Rajkumar of Wildlife Conservation Foundation, who assisted the participants, told The Hindu that there used to be at least 210 bird species in the lake ecosystem during bird watching sessions about six to seven years ago. “Now, the species number is dropping and we could only locate less number of species. Moreover, the number of birds was also less. The same situation prevails even in other lakes located within the city” he said. Mr. Rajkumar said the number of Common Coot had come down drastically. “We used to see them at this time in big numbers in lakes like Karanji and other lakes during the waterfowl census.” Mr. Rajkumar’s views were endorsed by photographer G.S. Ravishankar, who, with two bird enthusiasts Prithvi and Tejas, organised the bird watching session at Karanji Lake under the banner of Mysore Naturalists Ark. “Both the bird number and species had dropped. If birds are not assured of food, they start going away from the water bodies."
Sources:
The Hindu, 14 December 2015
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/are-mysuru-lakes-not-su…
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karanji_Lake
- Log in to post comments