The India-Bangladesh bonhomie is a boon for wildlife conservation. Last year during the virtual summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sheikh Hasina signed seven agreements, including the conservation of wildlife. Both the countries are working together on several projects, to save the critically endangered species like the dolphin, Bengal Florican and also conserve the Sunderbans among others.

Like India, Bangladesh is also an very important seasonal habitat for migratory birds along the Central Asian and East Asia Australasian Flyways, forming a key wintering area for some of these species. Half of the wintering global population of the Indian Skimmer and 20 per cent global population of the critically endangered Spoon-bill Sandpiper stop in Bangladesh.

Recently researchers, scientists and bird watchers of India and Bangladesh decided to come together to do extensive studies to save the unique bird species—the Indian Skimmer.

In December and January, bird watchers, they joined the Indian Skimmer Count exercise coordinated by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Bird Count India and the forest department. While in India they spread out from Gujarat and Goa to go out looking for skimmers, Bangladeshi researchers searched in their spots.

Once upon a time the Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis) was widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent, along the major rivers of Myanmar, and along the Mekong in Indo-China. Today, very small numbers are present in Pakistan, it is known from only three localities in Myanmar, and the species is extinct in the Mekong Delta. It is a rare visitor to Nepal. At present, the last strongholds of the Indian Skimmer are India, and Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, large populations of skimmers winters on its coast and in India it is confined to the major river systems of northern India, notably the Chambal, Mahanadi and Ganges Rivers.

“It was high time that we count these birds and get an estimate which would be closer to reality,” Parveen Shaikh, a researcher with BNHS told the media during the bird count. She had coordinated the event and has been studying skimmers on the Chambal river for several years.

According to Neha Sinha, a scientist of BNHS, the results of the first-ever Indian Skimmer count, held on 19-20 January 2021 by BNHS and Bird Count India, found 1,609 birds from 45 locations. In India, 1,159 birds were counted, and a further 450 were counted in Bangladesh.

In an article for Bird Life International, Sinha wrote that Bangladeshi researchers had discovered Indian Skimmers during a survey in Nijhum Dwip National Park. Three of the birds had colour bands, tagged by the BNHS and Bird Life in India. This confirmed what many had long suspected–that Indian Skimmers move between India and Bangladesh, and thus conservation of this globally threatened, tern-like bird must be coordinated at the flyway level.

“Excited to share that we found a minimum of three flagged (White) Indian Skimmers foraging gracefully at Nijhum Dwip National Park. These were marked at National Chambal Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, India by BNHS,” says Bangladeshi researcher Sayam U Choudhary in excitement, “This also supports satellite tagged data on Indian Skimmers, migrating to Bihar, India in March 2016 from Bangladesh, the research was led by Samiul Mohsanin and his team. Our collective findings further explain the connectivity and movement of Skimmers between the two countries, majority of the skimmers winter in Bangladesh and breed in India.”

The Indian skimmer is a distinctive bird with a lower bill that is longer than the upper one. This helps it plough the waters to catch fish, its main food. A thick, orange-yellow bill with a slightly longer lower mandible (jaw) is one of the most striking features of the Indian skimmer. The Indian skimmer often flies low over water bodies with its scissor-like beak open. It gets its name from this skimming behaviour.

The bird skims its lower mandible just below the surface, slicing through the water like scissors through silk to leave a neat, V-shaped wake. The instant it comes into contact with a fish, the upper mandible (maxilla) snaps shut by involuntary reflex to secure the prize. A muscular shock-absorber system cushions the bird’s head and neck against the sudden impact.

As the bird flies, it feels for the prey with its lower mandible that cuts through the water surface. Finally, with a dip of the head, it scoops the prey ─ mainly fish, insect larvae, and crustaceans like shrimps. This bird with pointed black wings and white underparts, a unique beak, and bright orange feet, features on many a birder’s wish list.

Last week I saw two habitats of Indian skimmers in Chambal river near Dholpur in Rajasthan and witnessed their amazing pre nesting activities, courtship and mating behaviours of Indian Skimmers. Male skimmer was proposing by bowing to the female one like a gentleman.

In the recent State of India’s Birds 2020 report, Indian skimmers are one of the 101 species categorised as ‘Of High Conservation Concern’ in the country and a key species in six Indian states. Despite their dwindling numbers and importance in the ecosystem, they are one of the least studied species in the Indian subcontinent. Its present global population is estimated at 6,000–10,000 mature individuals. The population of the Indian Skimmer is declining rapidly as a result of widespread degradation, and disturbance, of lowland rivers and lakes, and therefore it is listed as Vulnerable.

BNHS and Government agencies are working for the conservation of this beautiful species which is facing problems like illegal sand mining is one of the major threats for their habitats. In a special project, farmers from the local communities have been trained to guard the nests from sand mining, predators like dogs, heynas and jackals.

Over a hundred Indian Skimmers have been ringed at Chambal to better understand their population ecology and migration pattern. They also have implemented community-based conservation with the support of State Forest Departments of Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, respectively.

In her article Sinha says that conducting awareness activities for local people to secure support for protection of Indian Skimmer at its breeding and non-breeding sites is needed. India and Bangladesh both are the part of the Convention on Migratory Species’ information on the Central Asian Flyway and experts say that the flyway’s action plan should include the Indian Skimmer among species of great significance to help in conservation.