OUT OF the nine species of storks found throughout North-east Asia, the adjutant stork is the largest. The population of this species is dwindling fast. At the beginning of the 19th century, Assam was the habitat for lakhs of greater adjutant storks. After India’s Uttaranchal, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, the Brahmaputra valley has been the main habitat for this fast-dwindling species of stork. But now, ironically, they can be easily counted in this once highly-populated habitat.
Deepor Beel and Silsaku Beel were some of the famous wetlands of Guwahati known as the resting grounds of these species of storks.
Apart from these, a flock of greater adjutant storks was also sighted near Guwahati Commerce College, Hajimusaphirkhana and Maligaon’s Aruna Cinema Hall. But now only a few of them can be seen in parts of Deepor Beel, Charusala Beel and Hajimusaphirkhana. But quite noticeably, a few years back, a number of birds belonging to this species died because of some unknown reason in Deepor Beel.
