Parveen Shaikh wins Whitley Award for skimmer conservation

Mumbai: Avian ecologist and conservationist Parveen Shaikh has been honoured with the prestigious Whitley Award by the UK-based Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) for her efforts to protect the endangered Indian Skimmer and expand her community-led conservation model to Prayagraj in the Ganga Basin.

India is home to over 90 per cent of the global population of around 3,000 Indian Skimmers, a striking bird known for its bright orange bill and unique feeding technique of skimming river surfaces to catch fish. The species nests on fragile sandbars and mid-river islands that appear seasonally, making it highly vulnerable to even minor changes in river flow, often resulting in nesting failures.

Shaikh’s “Guardians of the Skimmer” initiative along the Chambal River has led to a notable recovery in the species. By involving local communities as nest guardians and combining traditional knowledge with scientific monitoring, nest survival rates have increased from 14 per cent to 27 per cent. The local population has also risen significantly—from around 400 birds in 2017 to nearly 1,000 last year.

“We need the work of Whitley Award winners to succeed and to help them to whatever extent possible,” said WFN Ambassador David Attenborough.

The award was presented on April 29 by Anne, Princess Royal at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Once widespread across SouthEast Asia, the Indian Skimmer has vanished from much of its historical range due to large-scale degradation of riverine habitats. Globally, wetlands are disappearing faster than any other ecosystem, with rivers facing increasing ecological disruption.

Under the expanded project, Shaikh and her team will appoint and incentivise local nest guardians at both Chambal and Prayagraj to ensure round-the-clock monitoring and protection of nesting sites. Predator-proof fencing will be installed in vulnerable stretches, while experimental artificial nesting platforms will also be introduced in Chambal.

The new landscape in Prayagraj presents fresh challenges compared to the Chambal Sanctuary, which hosts the largest breeding population of Indian Skimmers. Stretching over 600 km along the Chambal River—a tributary of the Yamuna—the sanctuary comprises protected riverine habitats, sandbanks, ravines, and sandbars. Shaikh’s team has already trained over 30 nest guardians in the region to safeguard nests from threats such as free-ranging dogs, jackals, and cattle trampling, demonstrating the effectiveness of community-driven conservation.