BNHS making efforts to save Green Munia

The brightly-coloured bird with a melodious call - Green Munia - has been listed as vulnerable because of the rapidly declining population but the Rajasthan model shows the way to protect this bird.

The Rajasthan government is working with the Mumbai-headquartered Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) as the knowledge partner to ensure that these birds do not vanish because of the multiple threats that it faces.

Green Avadavat also known as Green Munia (Amandava formosa) - a tiny bird of about 10 cm - is an endemic bird of India with small fragmented distribution in central India.

Amandava or “avadavat” comes from Ahmedabad, from where the first few specimens were obtained.

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According to BirdLife International 2023, this species is classified as Vulnerable by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since it has a rapidly declining population, owing to widespread trapping for the cage-bird trade, compounded by habitat loss and degradation through agricultural intensification.

“The BNHS has been working with the Rajasthan Forest Department for protection of Green Munia for some years and now we have started yielding results,” said Kishor Rithe, Secretary and Interim Director, BNHS.

The population size is preliminarily estimated to fall into the band 10,000-19,999 individuals, according to data from BirdLife International.

“We are working for both in-situ and ex-situ conservation,” said Dr Rajat Bhargava, Assistant Director and Senior Scientist, BNHS.

The in-situ field work is ongoing in Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, Gokunda, Jastwantgarh, Udaipur and other areas to study the ecology of this endemic Vulnerable species.

The ex-situ Conservation breeding program is ongoing with Rajasthan Forest Department at Gulab Bagh Bird Park, Udaipur with BNHS.

“First successful captive-bred clutch of parents reared seven chicks born in November 2022 and January 2023 - first official attempt at any zoo in the world,” said Dr Bhargava.

“Conservation breeding is never the first option for saving any species – it is, in fact, the last resort. Considering the declining status of Green Avadavat around. Udaipur district, BNHS wanted to initiate a ‘‘motivational’ conservation breeding program for Green Avadavat which simply implies building support for conservation.

The role of zoos and bird parks across India in the conservation of threatened birds has not been so far pivotal. One remarkable dimension to this endeavor is having the first official attempt by any zoo or bird park in the world for providing a back-up population of Green Avadavat aimed as a ‘precautionary’ measure for a soft release program at a later stage,” the BNHS said.

It inhabits grass and low bushes, sugarcane fields, open, shrubby forest and boulder-strewn scrub jungle, often near water, generally in lowlands and foothills. It has also been seen in sparsely vegetated, stony, arid wasteland and a mango orchard. It nests in small colonies between May and January.