Call to include Indian Roller on International union for Conservation of Nature red list

According to the SoIB-2023 report, the Indian Roller's population has declined by 30 percent in the last 12 years

Sangareddy: With a sharp decline in the population of Indian Rollers (Palapitta), the State of Indian Birds (SoIB) report has recommended to the International union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to include the bird in its reassessment for inclusion on the IUCN Red List.

According to the SoIB-2023 report, the Indian Roller’s population has declined by 30 percent in the last 12 years. The report has drawn to the conclusion based on the bird record data including that available on e-bird, an online database of bird observations. The e-bird had 30 million birding trips data uploaded by 30,000 wildlife photographs across the nation. The Indian Roller is the State bird of Telangana, Karnataka, and Odisha.

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The SoIB report, in fact, has recommended reassessment for inclusion of 14 bird species, including the Indian Roller, in India in the IUCN red list. The population of these 14 bird species was rapidly declining in India. Speaking to Telangana Today, wildlife photographer Sriram Reddy said the population of birds living in open ecosystems, rivers and shores was declining according to the SoIB’s latest report. The use of pesticides on crops and rapid urbanisation were posing serious threats to birds like the Indian Roller, he said, also urging the State government to carry out a detailed survey to find why the Indian Roller population was declining. The survey would help to come up with a plan to protect the State bird, which faced threats from poachers, who captured them a month ahead of Dasara to display them during the festival.

In all, India had 1,300 bird species. The SoIB report could analyse 942 of them based on bird observations and found the exact trend of 342 bird species. The report found that 142 bird species were showing a declining trend in India. Nearly 64 species of these were showing a trend of rapid decline. While the population of 28 bird species, including the peacock and the Indian koel, was on the rise, the population of 189 birds was stable.