Extremely Rare Birds at Marala Barrage Pakistan


During the past year or so, friend of Birding Islamabad Tahir Abbas Awan, a wildlife photographer based in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan made a couple of startling discoveries of rare species at the wonderful habitat known as Head Marala, about 13 miles to the east of Sialkot. It is an area of marsh and seasonal wetlands caused by flooding of the nearby Chenab River. The area is an important wintering ground of many wildfowl but most importantly the mystical Bar-headed Goose. I have been lucky enough to visit the area on a number of occasions and seeing the sky full of skeins of Bar-headed Geese are memories I will never forget.

These discoveries by Tahir deserve wider recognition than appearing within our modest Blog (although we have had over 25,000 visits) that highlights the amazing birdlife of Pakistan. Details of these records will be forwarded to the Oriental Bird Club and, in respect of the Comb Duck, to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.

A huge amount of credit must go to RMK who is leading a campaign to promote the precious wildlife of Pakistan. He has formed a following of more than 35 Pakistani Wildlife Photographers who are determined to showcase the beauty and appeal of the country’s natural history and who are working to put into place conservation measures to preserve Pakistan’s wildlife in an increasingly challenging environment.

In Tahir’s own words there follows details of his remarkable discoveries:

Knob-billed Duck (or Comb Duck); 24th June 2014 Head Marala, Sialkot, Punjab

Discovery of Knob-billed Duck from Punjab: Tahir Abbas Awan, a bird-photographer from Sialkot, Punjab, was looking for Pheasant-tailed Jacana in a lily-pond on 24th June 2014. Suddenly he saw a flock of Lesser Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna javanica) flying and his attention was drawn to an unusual white duck, which was photographed and turned out to be a Knob-billed Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos) female.

Comb Duck at Marala Barrage Tahir Abbas Awan

On 28th June 2014 a flock of 11 Knob-billed Ducks was seen by Tahir again, all of which were females, which suggests that the previously sighted female was not merely a straggler from India but this species has established and is most likely breeding in Marala area. Further exploration may produce more unusual and interesting species from the area with respect to Pakistani avifauna.

Black Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa)

Black Ibis at Marala Barrage Tahir Abbas Awan
On 12 april 2015 I (Tahir Abbas Awan) was working on Bee-eaters at Head Marala in the morning. It was a very hot season so I left for home at 8:30; on the way I saw a bird near a pond. I went down and saw it with zoom it was something different for me. I thought it could be a Glossy Ibis. I crossed the pond and crawled about 60 meters to reach near the bird. When i took photograph I noticed that it has red colour on head. I have seen many shots online so i did not have any difficulty to identify the bird. I Stayed there for many hours to photograph the bird in different activities and I also made some videos. Many times ibis flew and sit on the top of tree. Ibis changed places many times for food. I saw it whole day.

Islbirder Notes

Birding publications suggest that the Comb Duck was last reliably recorded in Pakistan in Lower Sind in the early 1930s (Bird of Pakistan Helm Field Guide 2008). Roberts in his two-volume publication on the Birds of Pakistan 1991, states that the Comb Duck or Nakta Duck, as it was known locally, is a rare resident of southern India. Roberts also states that a pair of Comb Duck was reported to have bred at Sukkur, Sindh Province, in the late 1950s on Lasbela Island on the Indus River. Consequently, a flock of eleven birds is highly significant. The males only have the fin-like protrusion on their bill during the breeding season and at other times this become a more rounded knob leading to this species’ alternative name. So rather than the whole flock that Tahir witnessed being females, some could have been males that were not in full breeding attire. This is a big bird and the males are about the same size as a Bar-headed Goose. Could these birds have escaped from a wildfowl collection? Unlikely, as the species is apparently uncommon as a captive bird.

The Black Ibis (or Red-naped Ibis) is another rare bird in Pakistan. It is usually a monsoon visitor (and occasional breeder) to wetland areas around Karachi in southern Sind. To find a bird of this species so far north and outside of Monsoon is incredibly unusual although the species has been recorded as a vagrant in Chitawan, Nepal (Roberts 1991).

So keep up the good work Tahir and let us know what other rarities you discover and whether you observe any more Comb Duck this year.

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