|Central coordinates||94o 20.00' East 27o 20.00' North|
|Altitude||90 - 95m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2004|
Site description Bordoibam-Bilmukh is a large freshwater lake that was created during the great earthquake of 1950. It was part of the River Subansiri, which now flows 7 km away from the lake. The Sanctuary is 50 km from Lakhimpur, the district headquarters, and 455 km from Guwahati. A large number of migratory waterfowl are seen in winter while some globally threatened species such as the Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis and Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicus are seen all over the year. The wetland is fringed by tall emergent vegetation, mainly Arundo donax, where the Swamp Francolin Francolinus gularis was not uncommon some years ago. However, the grassland has been destroyed by villagers, so this bird is now rarely seen. The typical aquatic, floating and emergent vegetation of wetlands is seen in this wetland also. In the drying and dried up part, Arundo donax dominates along with sedges. A few Barringtonia acutangula trees are found on the fringes.
AVIFAUNA: More than 165 bird species have been recorded (Phukan et al. 1997). Besides the Lesser Adjutant, there are some records of Greater Adjutant Leptoptilos dubius. Pallas’s Fish-Eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus is another globally threatened species seen here. It is of great conservation concern, as this large raptor requires undisturbed wetlands. The Bordiobam wetland is known as a breeding ground of the Large Whistling Duck Dendrocygna bicolor, Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio, Bronze-winged Jacana Metopidius indicus, White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus and Watercock Gallicrex cinerea (Talukdar 1993). Although this IBA does not support more than 20,000 birds (A4iii criteria), it has great potential as a major waterfowl sanctuary of Assam. It has been selected on the basis of the endangered species found here.
OTHER KEY FAUNA: Other important fauna of the site include the Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrina, and Hog deer Axis porcinus. The latter has become very rare due to the destruction of its grassland habitat. Some Smooth Indian Otters Lutrogale perspicillata still survive.
Not much work has been done on amphibians and reptiles, although Hoplobatrachus tigerinus, Bufo melanostictus, and Rhacophorus spp. have also been recorded.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Swamp Francolin Francolinus gularis||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicus||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Greater Adjutant Leptoptilos dubius||breeding||2004||present||-||A1||Endangered|
|Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Near Threatened|
|Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni||passage||2004||present||-||A1||Least Concern|
|Pallas's Fish-eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus||resident||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis||non-breeding||2004||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Greater Spotted Eagle Clanga clanga||winter||2004||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Bordoibam-Bilmukh||Sanctuary||1,125||is identical to site||1,125|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
|nature conservation and research||-|
|Notes: Nature Conservation|
Acknowledgements Key contributors: Anwaruddin Choudhury, Bikul Goswami, Megamix Nature Club.
Choudhury, A. U. (1990) Proposal for declaring Bordoibam-Bilmukh as a bird sanctuary. Unpublished report to Forest Department, Assam.
Phukan, D., Dutta, N. N., Gogoi, N. N., and Das, A. (1997) Bordoibam- Bilmukh Bird Sanctuary. Megamix Nature Club, Dhakuakhana, Pp. 24.
Talukdar, B. K. (1993) Need to preserve Bordoibam wetland. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 33(5):90.
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2014) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Bordoibam-Bilmukh Bird Sanctuary. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/12/2014
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