Context: The Environment Ministry along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative a “firefly bird diverter” for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.
Key Points

• It is for the overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.
• The high-voltage transmission lines with multiple overhead wires are the most important current threat for GIBs in the Thar region.
• It causes unsustainably high mortality in about 15% of their population.

Firefly bird diverters

• Firefly bird diverters are flaps installed on power lines.
• The diverters are called fireflies because they look like fireflies from a distance, shining on power lines in the night.
• They work as reflectors for bird species like the GIB.
• Birds can spot them from a distance of about 50 meters and change their path of flight to avoid collision with power lines.
• Smaller birds can change their direction [swiftly] but for larger bird species, it is difficult because their body weight and other factors to swift nearby power lines.
• They are installed along two stretches of approximately 6.5 km, selected between Chacha to Dholiya villages in the Pokhran tehsil.
• The selected stretch is opposite the Pokhran Field Firing Range.
• It is a safe habitat to a breeding population of GIBs outside the Desert National Park Sanctuary in Jaisalmer.
• This model was suggested by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s (SSC) Bustard Specialist Group.

Great Indian Bustard

• It is a large bird of the bustard family (Otididae).
• It is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world.
• The great Indian bustard inhabits dry grasslands and scrublands on the Indian subcontinent.
• Only two districts in Rajasthan (Jaisalmer and Barmer) have a breeding GIB population in the wild.
• It is a state bird of Rajasthan, locally called as Godawan.
• The bird can also be found in small numbers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Conservation status

• International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) status: Critically Endangered
• Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Listed in the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
• Listed in Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)