|Central coordinates||85o 28.80' East 19o 42.60' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A4i, A4iii|
|Altitude||0 - 50m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2004|
Site description Chilika Lake is an estuarine lagoon, shallow throughout its spread of 1,16,500 ha. It is the largest brackish water wetland in India (Kar and Sahu 1993). The Government of India notified Chilika Lake as a Ramsar site in 1981. The pear-shaped lake is connected to the Bay of Bengal at its northeast end and is subject to minor tidal fluctuations. It receives water from rivers Daya and Bhargavi, and several small streams. It is the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowl in India (Anon. 2000). According to historical evidence, Chilika Lake was part of the Bay of Bengal about 6,000 years ago. Merchant ships used to travel from Chilika to South East Asia (Trisal and Chauhan 1998). Over a period of time, a sand spit barrier formed due to the littoral drift of the sea, as well as silt deposits carried by adjoining rivers into the wetland, separating it from the Bay of Bengal. Several islands are located in the lagoon covering an area of 22,300 ha. The Nalabana Island of the Chilika Lake was declared as a bird sanctuary in 1987. It has an area of 1,553 ha. Nalabana literally means “forest of reeds”. It is covered with aquatic plants, predominant species being Phragmites karka. During monsoon, Nalabana is entirely under water, with only reeds and watchtower visible. With the onset of summer the island gradually emerges. The major flora comprises of aquatic macrophytes such as Potamogeton pectinatus, Najas faveolata, N. graminea, Halophila ovalis, Ruppia maritima, Phragmites karka, Scirpus littoralis, Cyperus sp. and Salicornia brachiata. The algal forms include Chaetomorpha linum, Enteromorpha intestinalis, Oscillatoria laetevineus, Cladophora glomerata, Ulva lactuca; and the less common Gracillaria verrucosa.
AVIFAUNA: Chilika Lake in general and Nalabana area in particular are among the most important waterfowl habitats in India. The total number of waterfowl in Chilika is close to 8,00,000 birds. Of the 211 species of birds recorded in Chilika and its environs, 121 species were reported from Nalabana. Seven Vulnerable species, and many Near Threatened species are found. In January 2003, more than 4,50,000 birds were counted on Nalabana Island, and more than 2,40,000 birds were counted in the northern sector from Kalupadaghat to Teenmuhani area. Very large numbers of birds were also observed in the Kansari River and Gangadharpur area (Sana Nairi village). Similarly, the unapproachable areas in the southern sector near Taltaola, Rambha, Naupada and outer-channel Jahnikuda provide refuge to more than 1,70,000 ducks and waders. It is estimated that Chilika Lake supported over 8,00,000 birds during the 2002- 2003 winter season (Balachandran et al. 2003). Large numbers of birds such as the Pintail Anas acuta (80,000), Garganey Anas querquedula, Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa (48,000), Gadwall Anas strepera (1,00,000) Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope (40,000) Brown-headed Gull Larus brunnicephalus (20,000), and the marine terns (Large Crested Sterna bergii and Lesser Crested Sterna bengalensis) congregate on and around the island at dusk for roosting, and most of them depart in the morning. Over 1,000 Bar-headed Geese Anser indicus spend the winter at Nalabana every year. During 3 years of monitoring the maximum wader population (1,44,000) was recorded in January 2003. The rare Asian Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus was seen in small numbers (10-15) and a total of five individuals were also ringed between 2002 and 2003. Large congregations (>1000) of Lesser Whistling Duck Dendrocygna javanicus were seen during January 2003. Over 5,000 Brahminy Shelducks Tadorna ferruginea were observed between Satapada (outer-channel area) and Nalabana. The globally threatened Pallas’s Fish-Eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus was regularly sighted, solitarily or in pairs in Nalabana from December to March. Among other threatened species of Chilika Lake, between 175 to 300 Spot-billed Pelican were seen. Large breeding colonies of terns, namely the River Tern, Gullbilled Tern and Little Tern Sterna albifrons, along with the waders such as Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus were recorded at Nalabana Island. The majority of nests were found in the middle of the island. Among the 1,032 nests noted in 2002, 540 and 323 respectively belonged to River Tern and Gull-billed Tern. The other two wader species breeding at Nalabana are Oriental Pratincole Glareola maldivarum and Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus (Balachandran et al. 2002a). Many waders and ducks occur in much greater numbers than their 1% population threshold determined by Wetlands International (2002). For some species such as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Asian Dowitchers, this site is extremely important in India.
OTHER KEY FAUNA: Chilika Lake hosts 158 types of fish and prawn species. Fish include both marine and estuarine species. Penaeus indicus and Penaeus monodon are commercially important prawns. The sand crab Scylla serrata is the most abundant commercial crab of Chilika.
A remnant population of the highly endangered Irrawady Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris occurs only in Chilika in India.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Northern Pintail Anas acuta||-||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Baer's Pochard Aythya baeri||winter||2004||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Lesser Whistling-duck Dendrocygna javanica||-||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus||-||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea||-||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Gadwall Mareca strepera||-||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Eurasian Wigeon Mareca penelope||winter||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicus||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis||resident||2004||present||-||A1, A4i||Near Threatened|
|Pallas's Fish-eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea||winter||2004||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa||winter||2004||present||-||A4i||Near Threatened|
|Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis||non-breeding||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Brown-headed Gull Larus brunnicephalus||breeding||2004||present||-||A4i||Least Concern|
|A4iii Species group - waterbirds||unknown||2004||20,000 individuals||unknown||A4iii|
|Medium - based upon reliable but incomplete / partially representative data|
|Biological resource use||fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||moderate to rapid deterioration||high|
|Transportation and service corridors||shipping lanes||happening now||some of area/population (10-49%)||slow but significant deterioration||medium|
|Wetlands (inland)||0||0||good (> 90%)||good (> 90%)||favourable|
|Whole area of site (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation||A comprehensive and appropriate management plan exists that aims to maintain or improve the populations of qualifying bird species||Some limited conservation initiatives are in place||medium|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Chilika Lake||Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)||116,500||unknown||0|
|Chilka (Nalaban)||Sanctuary||1,553||is identical to site||1,553|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
|nature conservation and research||-|
|Notes: Nature conservation and research|
|Notes: Tourism and recreation|
Acknowledgements Key contributors: S. Balachandran, Biswajit Mohanty and Ajit Patnaik.
Ali, S. and Ripley, S. D. (1987) Compact Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan (Second Edition). Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Anonymous (2002) Conservation of Chilika - an overview. Chilika Wetland International Newsletter 1:3-5.
Balachandran, S., Rahmani, A. R. and Sathiyaselvam, P. (2002a) Habitat evaluation of Chilika Lake with special reference to birds as Bioindicators. Half yearly Report (December 2001 to June 2002) Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.
Balachandran, S., Rahmani, A. R. and Sathiyaselvam, P. (2002b). Habitat evaluation of Chilika Lake with special reference to birds as Bioindicators. Half yearly Report (July to December 2002) Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.
Balachandran, S., Rahmani, A. R. and Sathiyaselvam, P. (2003) Habitat evaluation of Chilika Lake with special reference to birds as Bioindicators. Annual Report, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.
Kar, S. K. and Sahu, H. K. (1993) Preliminary study on ecology of aquatic birds in Chilika lake, Orissa. In: Bird Conservation: Strategies for the nineties and beyond. (Eds. Verghese, A., Sridhar, S. and Chakravarthy, V. K.) Ornithological Society of India, Bangalore. Pp. 62-64.
Trisal, C. L. and Chauhan, M. (1998) Chilika Lake: Guidelines for Ecotourism Development. Wetlands International- South Asia, New Delhi, India. Pp 54.
Wetlands International (2002) Waterbirds Population Estimates: Third Edition. Wetlands International Global Series No. 12. Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Contribute Please click here to help BirdLife conserve the world's birds - your data for this IBA and others are vital for helping protect the environment.
Recommended citation BirdLife International (2016) Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Nalabana Bird Sanctuary (Chilika Lake). Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/02/2016
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife