Berhampur: Wildlife officials have sounded an alert for bird flu in the Chilika lake, country’s largest waterfowl habitat, following the death of around 50 birds in Abalpur village near Pipli block in Puri district earlier this month. “Though there are no migratory birds in the lake at present, hundreds of residential birds have taken shelter in the lake,” divisional forest officer Amlan Nayak said.
Most of the residential birds have taken shelter in Nalabana, the wildlife sanctuary and Mangalajodi area inside the brackish water lagoon .“We have asked officials to keep a watch on the condition of birds and to find out if any of them have died,” Nayak added.
As a precautionary measure, surveillance has been intensified across the lake, which is spread across over 1,100sqkm, for possible symptoms of the disease in the birds. “We have neither detected any sick or dead bird in the lake so far during surveillance,” Nayak said, who interacted with the rangers of different divisions through video conference on Monday.
The surveillance measures to detect sick birds in the lake will continue till the arrival of the migratory birds in the lake in the second week of October. Nayak said forest personnel, along with veterinary officials, will conduct surveillance at regular intervals in the lake once the migratory birds arrive. “The veterinary doctors will also test samples of birds suspected to be sick,” he added.
Migratory birds mostly arrive from beyond the Himalayas in the Northern Eurasia, Caspian region, Siberia, Kazakh, Lake Baikal and the remote areas of Russia and neighbouring countries every winter and start their homeward journey before the onset of summer.
Last winter, the lake had hosted as many as 11, 37,759 birds of 187 species. This included 10, 98, 813 birds of 108 species and 38, 947 of 79 species of birds. Last winter, no death of bird was reported in the Chilika, forest department sources said.

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