09-05-2025
Assessment on sarus crane habitat starts in Bhandara
Nagpur: The ground level assessment of natural water bodies in Bhandara for rejuvenation purposes has started courtesy a unique campaign initiated by deputy conservator of forest Rahul Gawai and the Foundation for Economic and Ecological Development (Feed).
The
forest department
and Feed have joined hands to improve the habitat quality in 24 water bodies so that sarus cranes get suitable to TOI, Feed director Manish Rajankar said, "We have started visiting the sites for assessing the plants and indigenous species. Once the survey is over, we will move to the next step of strategizing steps for rejuvenation."Sarus cranes are found in abundance in Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli.
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"Sarus are not migratory birds like Flamingos, but they shift bases for food. Sarus cranes have been around for thousands of years and are mentioned in the first shloka of Ramayana," Rajankar said. He explained that sarus cranes stick with the same mate for their entire life, something which is mentioned in the epic."These sarus have always lived near human habitat, near riverbanks. You won't find sarus in deep forests," said sarus cranes find a mate is an interesting story. "Once a year, they congregate in large numbers at different places, Gondia is one such location. Here, the mates are chosen and the newly hitched couple flies back with the parents to their 'joint family' habitat. After a few weeks, the new couple then moves on to find their own territory," Rajankar birds establish their own territories and survive on a steady diet of fish, insects, a specific type of grass and freshly sown seedlings farmland ."The nest they build is always on the ground and is spread over a circumference of 10 feet. Both parents take turns in hatching the eggs and take care of it till the hatchling is ready to fly off on its own," Rajankar said.
