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The shorebirds of Gharo Creek and the Indus Delta,

Robin M. Ward

Ward, R.M. 1999. The shorebirdsof GharoCreek and the IndusDelta, Pakistan. WaderStudy Group Bull. 90: 31-34.

RobinM. Ward,Dept. of BiologicalSciences, University of Durham, SouthRoad, Durham, U.K., DH1 3LE.

INTRODUCTION STUDY AREA Little hasbeen published on shorebirdpopulations within the The IndusDelta is a vastcomplex of tidal water courses, IndusDelta, Pakistan(Finlayson & Moser 1991). For three low-lying sandyislands, swamps, intertidal creekswithin the delta,A Directoryof Asian Wetlands(Scott mudflatsand bare saltflats, coveringabout 600,000 ha. The 1989) summarisesdata from two waterfowl surveys studyarea was a 5 km sectionof GharoCreek (Figure 1) undertakenin January1987 and 1988. OtherwiseRoberts whichis situatedat the northernend. Mangroveswamp (1991) appearsto providethe only quantitativepublished data, fringesthe entiresouthern shore but the north shore,where it in the form of opportunisticcounts taken during several boat runseast from a power station,is a foreshoreof sanddune and tripswithin partsof the Delta. During a recentenvironmental saltmarsh,behind which lies semi-desertscrub. During low impactassessment for industrialdevelopment at , tide extensivemudflats are exposed along Gharo Creek, datawere gatheredfrom the adjacentintertidal areas of Gharo 3.5 km2 lying within the studyarea. Creek (67ø23'N 24ø47'E ). The resultsof thesesurveys are summarised below.

Semi-desert scrub

Ziarat Hasan Shah l.qland

Mangrove

...... Studyboundary •!• GitamCreek ![] Intertidalflats • 1Km

Figure 1 Map of the studyarea, Gharo Creek, Indus Delta, Pakistan 32

METHODS DISCUSSION Shorebird counts were undertaken within two two-week Of the shorebirdspecies observed at GharoCreek the changes periods,in April 1996(2nd - 13th)and January/February 1997 in abundancefrom April to Januaryare generallyas expected (20th - 1st). The two surveyperiods were timedto assess, from the phenologydescribed by Roberts(1991) for each respectively,the springpassage and wintering populations of species.Differences exist in species'relative abundance, shorebirdsusing Gharo Creek. Countswere undertaken within presumablya consequenceof habitatdifferences between two hoursperiods either side of low or highwater. The timing, countsites. For example,the numbersof winteringTerek frequencyand extent of coverageof a countwithin one tidal SandpipersXenus cinereus were similarto thoseof Redshanks periodwas constrained by localconditions, in particular Tringatotanus in GharoCreek whereas Terek Sandpiperswere securityconsiderations i.e. the threatposed from terroristsand relatively lessabundant than Redshanksin Ghrizi Creek bandits. Casual observations were also made of shorebird (Roberts 1991). movementsand their timingsbetween different areas within the studysite and beyond. All observationswere undertaken The Korangicreek area of the Delta hasbeen surveyed from Ziarat Hasan Shah Island and the mainland's northern regularly(Hasan in litt.), the resultantquantitative data having shore. Identificationof all individualsof somesmaller species beenpublished only as a summaryby Scott (1989) and was oftennot possible,due to viewing range,heat haze or poor incorporatedwithin the statisticsof the most recent light conditions;all countsshould therefore be treatedas InternationalWaterfowl Censuspublication for Asia (Perennou minima,particularly of plovers(Greater Sandplover et al 1994). The quantitivedata presented by Scott(1989) is Charadriusleschenaultii and smallerplovers) and calidrid of a waterfowl surveyof threecreeks including Korangi, in sandpipers.Optical equipment used was a 15-60x60 telescope January1988, with countsprovided for 17 of the 30 waterbird and 10x40 binoculars. speciesrecorded, nine of the 17 beingshorebirds. Hasan (1994) provideda checklistof shorebirdsobserved in the Indus Delta with status comments limited to "resident", RESULTS "winter visitor" or "straggler". As a consequence,the relative For all 26 intertidalwader speciesthat occurredduring the conservationimportance of areaswithin the Indus Delta is study,the minimumnumbers estimated within the studyarea currentlydifficult to evaluatein quantitativeterms. are presentedin Table 1. Includingthose birds seen but not identified(mostly the small plovers& Calidrids)the studyarea The InternationalWaterfowl Census's (IWC) coverageof the held on a givenday over 2,200 and2,900 shorebirdsduring IndusDelta may have beenincomplete. This is apparentwhen April 1996 and January1997, respectively.The degreeto comparingtheir data with thosefrom GharoCreek and Ghrizi whichthe turnoverof passagemigrants occurs is unknown. Creek(Table 1). For elevenspecies, Pakistan's peak winter Clearly, any turnoverwould further increasethe total numbers countswere closelyapproached or exceededby the numbers of individualsusing the site. Observationsshowed that all countedalong the 5km stretchof GharoCreek or by the casual birdsroosting in the studyarea alsofed there,supplemented by countsmade in the IndusDelta by Roberts(1991). No others that had roosted elsewhere. No movements of birds evidenceexists to suggestthat overthe pastdecade a were observedto and from sitesto the west of the studyarea, substantialpopulation increase has occurredin thesespecies aroundPort Qasim. which might explain the differencebetween the IWC and the presentstudy' s figures. FurthermoreRoberts' (1991) counts Five speciesof shorebird(Black-winged Stilt Himantopus were undertaken within the decade of the IWC counts. For himantopus,Little RingedPlover Charadriusdubius, Common two speciesin particular,Broad-billed Sandpiper and Greater SandpiperActitis hypoleucos, Common Snipe Gallinago Sandplover,the difficultiesin identifyingindividuals in winter gallinago and Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii)occurred whenamongst the commonerspecies is alsolikely to haveled entirelyor largelyin a freshwatertributary of GharoCreek, at to under-recordingin the IWC counts. the studyarea's north-west comer. Anothertwo shorebird species(not tabulated)were recordedprimarily inland, On the assumptionthat the GharoCreek's shorebirddensities adjacentto the Gharo Creek studyarea. These were are representativeof thoseon mudflatselsewhere in the delta, Red-wattledLapwing Vanellus indicus and Yellow-wattled extrapolationcould provide crude estimates for eachspecies LapwingVanellus malabaricus. During April six pairsof the for the whole Indus Delta. However, data on the total area of former and four pairsof the latter defendedterritories within tidalflats within the delta are not readilyaccessible, if known the semi-desertscrub of the northshore. In the winterperiod, at all. The studyarea within Gharo Creek, including all four Yellow-wattledLapwings were presentthere from 1st habitats,comprises less than 0.2% of the IndusDelta. If February,unusually early for this speciesas the main arrivalof appliedto thedata presented in Table1 extrapolationsuggests this localised summer visitor to Pakistan occurs from late that the currentfigures available for severalestuarine February(Roberts 1991). shorebirdspecies in Pakistanare probably gross underestimates.How GharoCreek fanks in conservation termswithin the IndusDelta (and Pakistanas a consequence) 33

Table 1 Comparisonof shorebirdnumbers within Gharo Creek, Indus Delta, Pakistan,with localand national data

SPECIES Minimum population Min. density International Opportunisticcounts for partsof estimatein studyarea birds/km2 Waterfowl the Indus Delta (Roberts Jan'97 Census ( Roberts 1991)# (Perennou et al 1994) Pakistan'speak winter count

1977-86 Apr'96 Jan'97 EurasianOystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus 4 6 2 80 200-500 (winter) Black-wingedStilt Himantopushimantopus 2 42 12 2980 - Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta 28 0 0 913 200+ (winter & April) Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 99 164 47 172 300 (winter),200+ (April) RingedPlover Charadrius hiaticula 1 0 0 15 100 (August) Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius 13 16 5 26 300 (August) Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus 1 160 46 7,232 - LesserS andplover Charadrius mongolus 300 450 129 461 Flocks of 300-700 (winter)* GreaterSandplover Charadrius leschenaultii 50 100 29 10 - Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 11 22 6 910 100 (winter),200 (April) WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus 6 11 3 10 100 (winter) EurasianCurlew Numeniusarquata 60 150 43 213 5,000 (winter)* SpottedRedshank Trin g a eryt hrop us 4 0 0 - - RedshankTringa totanus 25 200 57 987 2,000 (winter)* MarshSandpiper Tringa stagnatilis 12 38 11 98 200 (April) GreenshankTringa nebularia 5 2 1 259 - GreenSandpiper Tringa ochropus 0 3 1 67 - WoodSandpiper Tringa glareola 9 5 2 127 100 (April) TerekSandpiper Xenus cinereus 100 200 57 740 100 (winter)* CommonSandpiper Actitis hypoleucos 3 6 2 20 70 (winter)* CommonSnipe Gallinago gallinago 0 14 4 1126 - Little Stint Calidris minuta 52 225 64 10,514 5,000-10,000 (winter) Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii 19 24 7 - - Dunlin Calidris alpina 126 169 48 22,773 - CurlewSandpiper Calidrisferruginea 4 5 2 4 - Broad-billed S andpiper Limicola falcinellus 15 52 15 1 400 (April) Total numbers of unidentified shorebirds 1340 836 239 Total numbers of shorebirds(all species) 2289 2900 829

# Note:counts from Ghrizi Creek,except for thosemarked with an asterisk,for whichno IndusDelta areawas specified.

cannotyet be establishedwith any degreeof certainty. acrossthe Indus Delta (Hasan 1994) however makes no mentionof Broad-billedSandpiper. It is not clearwhether this One shorebirdspecies occumng in GharoCreek of particular is becauseof difficultyof identificationor a patchy interestis the Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus. distributionof the species.In 'A Directoryof AsianWetlands', The official conservationstatus of Broad-billedSandpiper Scott (1989) also makes no mention of Broad-billed accordingto IUCN criteriais vulnerable(Piersma et al. 1997), Sandpiperunder the siteaccounts for Korangiand Gharo andthe breedingand winteringranges have yet to be fully Creeks. elucidated(Hayman et al. 1986). The species'presence within the IndusDelta system,already identified by Roberts(1991), Clearly,extensive surveys of the Delta's shorebirdsare needed •s thereforelikely to be of conservationimportance. Hasan's to assistin identifyingthe importanceof the IndusDelta and checklistof speciescompiled from observationsfrom ten sites areaswithin it, both in the contextof internationalflyways and 34 at a nationallevel. Without the availability of suchdata, Hayman,P., Marchant,J. & PraterT 1986. Shorebirds:an assessingthe likely impactof any developmentwithin the identificationguide to the wadersof the worM. Christopher Delta is difficultto quantifyin termsof its significanceto Helm, London. nature conservation. Perennou,C., Mundkur T., Scott, D.A., Follestad,A. & CONCLUSION Kvenild, L. 1994. The Asian WaterfowlCensus 1987-91: Thoughthe findings of thepresent survey may not have Distributionand statusof Asian Waterfowl.AWB Publication revealed Gharo Creek to be of substantial conservation No. 24. AWB, Kuala Lumpar,Malaysia and IWRB, importance,the fact that the shorebird numbers cannot easily Slimbridge,U.K. be putinto context, within the Indus Delta as a whole,is of concern in conservation terms. More extensive and Piersma,T., Wiersma, P. & van Gils, J. 1997. The many up-to-dateshorebird censuses of theIndus Delta are needed, unknownsabout plovers and sandpipersof the world: for withoutthese the environmentalimpact of developments introductionto a wealth of researchopportunities highly such as those for which the current data were collected (Ward relevantfor shorebirdconservation. Wader StudyGroup Bull. 1996, 1997), can neverbe adequatelyassessed from a 82: 23-33. conservationperspective. Roberts,T.J. 1991. The birdsof Pakistan.Vol. 1. Oxford ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS University Press,. Peter Evans and Nick Davidson are to be thanked for providingvaluable comments on themanuscript. The surveys Scott,D.A. (compiler)1989. A Directoryof AsianWetlands. in GharoCreek were part of the extensiveenvironmental IUCN, The World Conservation Union. surveyscommissioned by ImperialChemical Industries Ltd in connection with their new PTA Plant construction. Ken Smith Ward,R.M. 1996. An OrnithologicalSurvey of lCI Pakistan's is to be thankedfor his organisationalwork throughoutthe Port Qasimsite, April 1996. - A reportto K.Smith, I.C.I.'s contract. JohnMehta (I.C.I. Pakistan)and variouscontractors, EcologyConsultant. in particularFoster-Wheeler engineers, provided much on-site logisticalhelp. Ward,R.M. 1997. An OrnithologicalSurvey of lCI Pakistan's Port Qasimsite, January 1997. - A reportto K.Smith,I.C.I.'s Ecology Consultant REFERENCES Finlayson,M. & Moser,M. ed. 1991. Wetlands.Wetlands International, Netherlands.

Hasan,A-U. 1994. The birdsof Sindhmangroves. Records Zool. Sur. Pakistan 12:98-105.