Berhampur: Chilika Lake, the biggest brackish water lagoon in the country, will remain closed for visitors for four days — on Jan 18, 20, 21 and 22 — for the annual bird and dolphin census. The mid-winter bird survey in the lake will be carried out by the Chilika wildlife division on Jan 18, while the dolphin census will be held over three days from Jan 20 to 22.

The lake will be open for visitors on Jan 19.
The enumerators will receive training on Friday at the Wetland Research and Training Center Chandraput, near Barkul.
“We have requested tourists not to visit the lake for four days from 6 am to 12 noon so that undisturbed bird and dolphin counts can be done on the day of the counting,” Amlan Nayak, divisional forest officer, Chilika wildlife division, on Thursday.
He added that they have also appealed to the boat associations not to operate their vehicles during the period.
“The birds, which swooped down into the lake after flying thousands of miles, might be disturbed and move from one area to another due to the operation of the boats, making it difficult to count the exact number of birds. Different boat associations have also assured their cooperation,” Nayak said.
Thousands of winged guests, mostly from beyond the Himalayas in northern Eurasia, the Caspian region, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Lake Baikal and the remote areas of Russia and neighbouring countries, visit Chilika every winter to escape the biting cold in their native areas and in search of food. They start their homeward journey before the onset of summer.
Nayak said around 130 people, including ornithologists, wildlife activists and researchers from different organisations, including the Bombay Natural History Society, Odisha University of Agriculture and Training and Wildlife Institute of India, among others, will take part in the bird census.
“We will form 21 teams, comprising 4 to 7 persons in each team, to count the birds. Each team will be provided with some instruments like binoculars to sight the birds,” he said. Similarly, they have formed 18 teams for the dolphin census.
Last winter, as many as 11,37,759 birds of 187 different species were counted in the 1100-sq km blue lagoon in the mid-winter water bird survey, sources said.