Even as vultures in India are reeling under the threat of extinction, sighting of rare Central Asian vultures in the Jammu region have brought cheer to wildlife experts and environmentalists. Dr CM Seth, chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has claimed to have spotted the vultures called Stepee Eagle.

Only 226 bird species spotted on Big Bird Day, stirring up a debate among nature lovers if Delhi is being abandoned by avians. It was a day that began with much anticipation but ended in disappointment for the city’s birdwatchers. The annual Big Bird Day on Sunday recorded just 226 species of the winged visitors unlike last year’s 240.
Bikram Grewal, the official score keeper, said it is an ill omen as the drop in count indicates a drop in the number species along the Yamuna.

Environment ministry stops Ansals housing project at Dadri in Greater Noida as the area is home to migratory birds. The BSP government in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is once again caught in a controversial land sale. The state government sold 2,400 acres of wetlands in Greater Noida to a private builder even though the law bars the sale of such areas. The state government failed to notify this area around Bil Akbarpur as wetlands.

The fourth phase of the intensive ‘Tiger Monitoring Programme,' envisaged by the Tiger Task Force of the Union Government, began at the Kalakkad - Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tirunelveli on Friday.

Giving details about the programme H. Malleshappa, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, KMTR told The Hindu that the work on three phases had been completed. In the fourth phase, the setting up of 100 cameras in every four sq.km. area had begun.

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, Centre for Environment Education and Paryavaran Mitra celebrated the Gharana Wetland Birding Fair, in connection with the World Wetlands Day at the Gharana Wetland today. Various non-governmental organisations, including the Association for Welfare of Senior Citizens, Jammu, the Ayurvedic Society for Health Awareness (ASHA), Jammu, and the Karan Ishav Social Welfare Society, RS Pura, took part in the event.

Reopening the waste treatment plant at Villappilsala at the earliest, entrusting its running to competent agencies, and rescheduling door-to-door waste collection to the evenings. These are some of the proposals in a 10-point agenda chalked out by the State unit of the WWF- India to resolve the issue of solid waste management (SWM) in the city Corporation limits.

Concern over decline of Rajasthan's State bird population

The critically-endangered grassland species, the Great Indian Bustard, will be counted in the desert terrain of Rajasthan in the second week of February. Rajasthan, specially its desert region, accounts for maximum population of the bird which is globally threatened and listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

BHUBANESWAR: The number of Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilika has dropped to 145 from an estimated 156 last year and 158 in 2010, according to the latest census data. Dolphin census was conducted in the brackish water lake on Monday and Tuesday. Chilika, a Ramsar site (i.e. a wetland of international importance) since 1981, incidentally, has the largest lagoonal population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the world, ahead of Lake Songkhla in Thailand.

KOLKATA: The first ever crocodile census was kicked off in the Sunderbans on Sunday. The exercise to be conducted in the daylight, will help track the behavioural pattern of the apex predators of the aquatic system. A fund of Rs 10 lakh has been sanctioned. It may be noted that there were reports of human-estuarine crocodile conflicts in Sunderbans in recent times especially from Sajnekhali and Kultoli areas. Some predators were also spotted in the rivers inside the villages.

JAMMU: Chief Secretary Madhav Lal today said that the State Government will extend full cooperation to the Department of Science and Technology, GoI in its endeavour to set up India's National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) at Pangong Tso Lake Merak in Ladakh region. He said that the facility will also provide employment opportunities to the local population.