Waterbird Count 2026 underway in Kaziranga

The Waterbird Count 2026 is underway across Kaziranga National Park as a seven-day scientific exercise to assess waterbird populations amid growing threats from shrinking, drying, and degraded wetlands in Assam. The count helps track species abundance, habitat health, and long-term ecological trends in one of India’s most important floodplain ecosystems.

Findings from the 2025 waterbird census revealed that the interconnected wetlands of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve supported bird populations higher than many designated Ramsar sites across India, underlining Kaziranga’s exceptional conservation value and the critical role of intact wetlands.

The count began in the South Bank ranges of Bokakhat, Agoratoli, and Kohora, where forest personnel, expert ornithologists, and trained enumerators fanned out across beels and marshes at daybreak.

The exercise moved to the Bagori and Burapahar ranges, followed by surveys along Kaziranga’s North Bank under the Biswanath Wildlife Division, covering some of the park’s wetland habitats.