Rare bird spotted in Darjeeling sanctuary

DARJEELING: Elusive for more than 170 years, the Darjeeling Wildlife Division finally rediscovered the satyr tragopan bird in the Senchel Wildlife Sanctuary.
Sighting of the satyr tragopan was first reported by Hickell in 1842, between the present Kurseong and Sonada region. In 1863 Jerdon and in 1933 Inglis reported the presence of the bird, locally called “munal” near Darjeeling at 7,000-8,000 feet and the present Singalila National Park.
The Darjeeling Wildlife Division officials sighted and captured the birds in the Sonada second block in August this year. The announcement was made on Saturday to coincide with World Wildlife Conservation Day.
“It is a success for our years of conservation effort. We can now tell the world that the bird is also there in our very own Senchel Wildlife Sanctuary,” said the Darjeeling Wildlife Division, DFO, Suratna Sherpa, on the sidelines of a workshop on bird conservation.
“Till date, we did not have any form of official photographic proof. This is the first time after 178 years that we managed to sight and rediscover the birds,” Sherpa said.
“We first sighted a female satyr tragopan in April. Then we set up camera traps which in July captured a male tragopan. And in August this year, we sighted three males,” said Rachana Pradhan, the deputy ranger, who was the first to sight the birds in their natural habitat.