Delhi has been home to different species since centuries now, nut human life isn’t the only one that took the toll of pollution. It used to be one of the very few cities in India where 10 rare species of owls used to habitat. As the pollution in the National capital increased the birds and animals decided to abandon their habitat here and migrated to other more hospitable regions.

But ever since the Forest Department has taken it upon themselves and started a campaign to create favourable conditions for the species things have changed. In fact, rare species of owls have started to return to the National Capital Region.

A team of Bombay Natural History Society, a pan-India wildlife research organisation, is preparing a report on the return of the rare species of owls to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, located near Tughlaqabad on Delhi’s southern edge.

The return of the brown hawk, the oriental scops and the pallid scops to the wildlife sanctuary after almost 70 years is exciting for bird watchers.

The campaign that ensured the return of these owls to Delhi began in 2014 when a dusky-eagle owl was first sighted. According to the campaign, the forest department and organisations have attempted to create conditions which are favourable for the return of the nocturnal birds.

The campaign bore results in 2015, when the rare Indian eagle-owl was sighted.

Since then, authorities have registered the presence of all 10 species that were previously found in Delhi-NCR.

This summer, a night-time programme is being run in forest areas around Delhi to understand whether this mysterious bird goes into hibernation during the hot weather season. If found true, this would be a big achievement for birders in understanding the characteristics of owls.

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