Conservation

Different storks

Once loathed as a social menace and a bird of ill omen, the greater adjutant stork has changed the fortunes of a few villages in Assam and Bihar, thanks to the efforts of two wildlife biologists who have educated the locals about this endangered species and the need to conserve them.

The greater adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius).Photo: Biswajit Roy Chowdhury

1/19

A muster of adjutant storks perched in a tree in Dadara village, Assam.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

2/19

The landfill area of Badagaon in Guwahati has the highest density of adjutant storks in Assam.Photo: M.V. Ajith Kumar

3/19

Greater adjutant storks, which are natural scavengers, gather at landfills in Assam to forage for food.Photo: M.V Ajith Kumar

4/19

The greater adjutant stork forages for fish.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

5/19

Purnima Devi Barman with a stork chick rescued at Dadara village on February 4, 2017.Photo: Biju Boro/ AFP

6/19

A meeting of the Hargila army in progress in Guwahati, on February 4, 2017.Photo: Anupam Nath/AP

7/19

The Hargila army regularly conducts awareness programmes.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

8/19

A biodiversity class conducted by the Hargila army for the local community of women.Photo: Chandan Bora

9/19

Community dance programmes are organised by the Hargila army to involve and empower the women in the Dadara village, Assam.

10/19

Arvind Mishra along with volunteers of the Mandar Nature Club, Bhagalpur.

11/19

Volunteers of the Mandar Nature Club, Bhagalpur.Photo: Arvind Mishra

12/19

Motifs of the greater adjutant stork on handloom sarees, an initiative of the Hargila army.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

13/19

Motifs of the greater adjutant stork on cloth bags, an initiative of the Hargila army.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

14/19

Schoolchildren in Dadara are sensitised through awareness programmes about the greater adjutant storks that nest in their village.

15/19

Schoolchildren observe a statue of the greater adjutant stork in the local school in Dadara.Photo: Purnima Devi Burman

16/19

The Hargila Learning and Conservation Centre, inaugurated at the Pacharia Kushal Konwar High School, Pacharia, Assam, on March 24, 2021.

17/19

Purnima Devi Burman receives the Nari Shakti Puraskar from the President of India in 2017.Photo: Gopalsingh-rawat

18/19

Purnima Devi Burman received the Whitley Award, considered “the green Oscar”, from the Whitley Fund for Nature, U.K., in 2017.Photo: James Finlay

19/19