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Birds
India's birds, above all the threatened ones: their status and habitat, the drugs, power lines and lost grassland that kill them, captive breeding and release, and the counts of migratory and resident birds. Prelims has asked about Desert National Park.
Showing 2 of 5 subjects, those that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026.Show all
The Great Indian Bustard
Copy link to The Great Indian BustardPrelims
- The Great Indian Bustard, or GIB (Ardeotis nigriceps), is a large ground dwelling grassland bird.
- It is Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
- It is on Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the list that carries the strictest protection.
- It lives mainly in the Thar, including Desert National Park in Rajasthan, with a surviving population in the Kachchh grassland of Gujarat.
- Collision with power lines is its best known threat, and the invasive Prosopis juliflora takes over the grassland it needs.
- Captive bred birds are raised under a recovery programme run with the Wildlife Institute of India, and the Kachchh birds now have a Gujarat action plan of their own.
What changed
14 Sep 2026
13 Sep 2026
13 Sep 2026
- The Soft Release Centre is in Kachchh, opened by the Union Environment Minister in September 2026.
- A soft release holds a bird raised in an enclosure in the country it will live in, to acclimatise it before it is released.
27 Jul 2026Update
- Three captive bred chicks have been moved into a rewilding tunnel at the Godawan Conservation Centre at Ramdevra, Jaisalmer, the first time the breeding programme has reached this stage.
- The enclosure copies natural habitat and cuts off human contact, with food supplied unseen and the birds watched by camera.
- The chicks stay about four months before release into Desert National Park. The bustard is the State bird of Rajasthan.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2020: Desert National Park
White-bellied heron
Copy link to White-bellied heronPrelims and Mains
The white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis) is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. India holds only six to nine birds, on the Noa-Dehing, Lahm and Lohit rivers, with about 70 per cent in the Lohit basin. It feeds only on fish taken in shallow water and nests in tall trees in mature riverside forest.
What changed
22 Jul 2026New subject
- The Forest Advisory Committee has given in principle clearance to a 1,200 MW hydroelectric project on the Lohit that would fell more than 33,000 trees.
- The project's environmental impact assessment does not mention the species.
Mains: an impact assessment that omits a Schedule I species shows how weak appraisal can be.
Also filed elsewhere
- Prosopis juliflora · on Invasive alien species
There is no point releasing a grassland bird into scrub, so the tree comes out before the bird goes in.