Sarus crane counting drive in Uttar Pradesh on 20 June 2010
Peacock is the national bird of India, and the Sarus crane is the state bird of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India.
Last year, members of the Society for Conservation of Nature identified 1,005 Sarus birds in the districts of Etawah, Auraiyya and Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh.
A four-hours exercise to identify and count Sarus Crane (Grus Antigone), the state bird will be organised across the state on Sunday, June 20. After a span of almost a decade, such an exercise is being launched and it will be conducted by the state forest department and its associated agencies, volunteers and various NGOs in the thousands of wetlands in the state as per the sources.
Out of the total number of 10,000 Grus Antigone, Indian Saras, Demosil Crane and Common Crane, nearly 2,500 of them are said to be nesting in and around Etawah and nearly 1,000 in Mainpuri district besides a good number of Sarus birds have also been spotted in Aligarh and Etah districts, claim the wildlife experts.
