With the numbers of lesser floricans, an endangered, endemic species from the bustard family of the Indian subcontinent, declining considerably in recent years, the Karnataka government set aside Rs 50 lakh towards the bird’s conservation in the recent state budget. Deciding that it’s time to conserve these birds before they become extinct, the state government announced a conservation programme to help regain the numbers of these birds.
Habitat destruction is believed to be the main cause for the decrease in the lesser florican population. When TNM asked ornithologists about the presence of lesser floricans in the state, they said that their number could be just a little more than the great Indian bustards in the state, which stands at about 15-20. Kalgundi Naveen, a birdwatcher and trained conservation educator from Bengaluru, said that lesser floricans are extremely rare to sight, thus making an estimation of their numbers difficult.
According to Subramanya, an ornithologist from Bengaluru’s University of Agricultural Sciences, a lesser florican was sighted in Bidar recently. In 2011, Raghavendra, a Bengaluru-based birdwatcher, recorded lesser floricans at Hesaraghatta Lake. It was the first sighting of the bird in over a century in Bengaluru.
Raghavendra was able to spot floricans in Hesaraghatta for a week after that, an indication of the presence of the bird in Bengaluru outside its breeding season. He observed that lesser floricans can possibly be found in Bengaluru in habitats similar to Hesaraghatta and also across the state where dry, tall grassland with scattered bushes and standing crops of cotton and millets are present.
Apart from Bengaluru, lesser floricans have been recorded in good numbers in Malur near Kolar, Mysuru, Shivamogga and a few have been spotted in places such as Haliyal of Uttara Kannada, Hassan, Tumakuru, Belikeri and Tungabhadra.
Lamenting that the Forest Department had planted saplings in Hesaraghatta that altered the florican habitat and spelt doom for the bird, Raghavendra said that forest officials had taken up intensive tree planting in 121 hectares in the area around 2011 when he had spotted the lesser floricans there.
Expressing concerns over the bird’s habitat loss, Rahul Aradhya, a bio-diversity educator based in Bengaluru, said, “Grasslands are unique kinds of habitats but treated as wastelands because they are not like forests with many trees. Grasslands are habitats not only for lesser floricans, but also for great Indian bustards, hyenas, wolves, blackbucks and raptors among other species. But owing to ill-conceived planning by forest officials, many grasslands have been allotted to industries causing destruction of the habitat.”
Describing the lesser florican as the smallest member of the bustard species, Rahul added that due to habitat destruction, the bird could meet the same fate as that of the great Indian bustard. He suggested that the Forest Department should stop planting saplings in grasslands as it is very unscientific and pushing numerous species to extinction.
Among the other reasons that Rahul cited for the declining numbers of lesser floricans was the use of pesticides in agricultural fields adjoining grasslands. As the bird’s diet includes grasshoppers, beetles, flying ants, hairy caterpillars, centipedes, worms, frogs as well as crop shoots, herbs and berries, the pesticides may threaten their health. Apart from this, grazing in grasslands washes away the topsoil and also leads to destruction of the florican habitat, Rahul observed.
As per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) published in 2018, lesser floricans in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan were under threat, with an estimated population of only about 260, down 80% from around 3,500 birds in 2000. The WII in its report had asked the four states to initiate immediate conservation methods to save the bird.
While welcoming the lesser florican conservation programme initiated by the Karnataka government, Rahul wanted the government and forest officials to create awareness among people about grasslands and the species that the habitat holds.
Kalgundi Naveen said that in the past Amur falcon numbers had recovered after conservation programmes in the country. Similarly, to revive the numbers of lesser floricans, the conservation programme in Karnataka has to be a sustained one, he said.
Girisha is a freelancer who writes on wildlife and forests.