In Bhutan, the world’s rarest heron is on the brink of extinction

The white-bellied heron, found in the freshwater ecosystems of the Himalayas, is the most endangered heron species in the world. Listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List since 2007, its total global population is estimated to be only 50 adult birds-249 adult birds, and numbers are declining even further.

According to the conservation NGO Birdlife International, the species is already extinct in Nepal and possibly in Bangladesh too, with the entire global population now restricted to northern Myanmar, northeast India and Bhutan.

Locally known as Chubja, Bhutan is home to around 45%-50% of the total global population of white-bellied heron, and the largest known number of breeding pairs.

White-bellied heron in Bhutan. Photo credit: Yeshey Dorji/ The Third Pole

But a recent study gives cause for concern for the species in Bhutan too. In March, the annual white-bellied heron population survey by the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Bhutan, a civil society organisation, recorded 22 herons: 19 adults and three sub-adult individuals. This was a decline by five compared to 27 birds in 2020.

White-bellied herons were sighted in 10 locations in the 2021 survey: six of these were in the Punatsangchhu River basin in western Wangduephodrang district, where 14 individuals were recorded in total. The other…

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