Peacock spotted in hilly district of Bageshwar
Peacock spotted in hilly district of Bageshwar
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Oct 7
The presence of a peacock, a bird of warmer region of Terai, in Bageshwar region of Kumaon at a height of 6500 feet has caught the attention of the wildlife expert.
A peacock has been visible in the hilly region of Bageshwar division for the past several months surprising the forest and wildlife authorities since peacock is a species of warmer region of Terai forests.
“It is surprising that the bird that used to habitats in 1600 feet elevation has now reached at 6500 feet high region. It could be due to ecological changes that have started affecting animal migration also,” said Dhyan Singh Karayat, a forest official in Bageshwar division of forest.
The peacock was first seen in Kafligair forest range in April this year and became visible in Kathayatbara forest on October 5.”The lowland bird was seen twice in Kafligair and once in Kathayatbara,” said the forest officials.
Dhrub Singh Martolia, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Bageshwar has said that the sighting of a peacock in Kafligair and Kathayatbara ranges of Bageshwar district is not unusual event such events often occurs in adjoining hills region of Terai where peacock have natural habitat. “The warm climate habitat species, like peacock in recent time or Tiger some time ago ascended the hill region but do not make hill terrain as their permanent habitat,” he said.
The DFO confirmed the sighting of a peacock in the hilly region of Bageshwar forests. Dr Suresh Kumar, a senior scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun said that though rare appearance of any fauna in new habitat is not indication of habitat change of particular species but such news items are often appearing in local papers.”Peacock have their habitat in open forest, but it might often venture in adjoining hill forests of Terai region finding same warmer weather as the climate of hill regions has also gone warmer these days,” said Dr Suresh.
According to Dr. Suresh Kumar, the hill regions are getting more hot compared to earlier decades, as temperature has increased there and rain pattern has also changed.” These all symptoms affect weather resulting into affecting lives of wild animals also,” said Dr. Suresh.
