The women fighting for the endangered storks of Assam

In these villages in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, a very special ceremony is taking place.

Usually a Panchamrit ceremony is held for a pregnant woman, but here it is in honor of a local bird: the greater adjutant stork.

Once widespread, these storks are now endangered. Known here as hargila, meaning bone swallower, they are scavengers, seen as a bad omen by some, and they are often poached or poisoned.

It is November, and the stork’s breeding season is about to begin. The women photographed are members of the Hargila Army, brought together by wildlife biologist Purnima Devi Barman. They’re hoping for a strong brood of new chicks to keep hargila populations healthy.

In the ceremony, women prepare local sweets and other food, and sing and dance. The delicacies are first offered to Hindu gods and goddesses at the temple, then distributed among the crowd.

Barman had local artist Umakanta Sonowal create the papier-mache headdresses, designed to show the beauty of the hargilas and dispel the idea of them as ugly.

“I thought that hargilas were a cursed bird and seen as a disease carrier,” she said. “I wanted to change that perception and make them seen as a charismatic species.”

Barman knows these villages well. During her PhD research on greater adjutant stork colonies in 2007-2008, she visited here and found people cutting trees to prevent storks from nesting.

When she tried to urge them to stop, it was not welcomed. The nesting colonies are mostly on private land, outside of official protected areas, so Barman realized that if she wanted to save the hargilas, she would have to change how the villagers saw them.

She began bringing together local women to raise awareness, with cooking, music and fun activities. These became important social events, and people began to show more interest in the value of these birds, and efforts to protect them. The Hargila Army was born.

“I felt a connection between the hargila and women,” said Barman. “I was born in a village, and many women in villages are silenced and suppressed and they don’t break stereotypes. For them their lives revolve around their family and kitchen. They live in a shell with no identity. Just like the hargila who are silent but they clean the environment and help us. As women we swallow the pain just like the hargila.”

With support from grants, they are now generating income by making traditional Assamese dresses with hargila motifs, as well as purses, scarves, skirts and earrings, which they sell during events and fairs. The image of the hargila has become a symbol of pride and a fundraising tool.

Namita Das, 35:, said: “My house is next to a water body where I had 14 ducks, and some years back a few were eaten by the hargila. At that point, I was very angry, but Purnima explained the importance of the storks and I was moved to join her conservation efforts. I have been a part of this group for seven years now and love being a part of it.”

The Hargila Army has also built artificial nesting platforms from bamboo and branches of local cedar trees. The first success came in late 2019 at the Assam State Zoo where a pair of greater adjutant storks successfully produced chicks in one of the platforms.

They have also hung nets under trees during the breeding period, to catch any chicks who fall from their nests, which can be up to 80 feet (24 meters) high.

The Hargila Army has also worked to raise awareness of how firecrackers used to celebrate Diwali can disturb the birds. And through their work in schools, they have helped make students – some of whose parents own the trees where storks nest – important advocates for protecting the birds.

More than 10,000 women have taken part in this grassroots conservation effort, Barman says. In Dadara and Pachariya villages, where there were once 27 nests, there are now more than 250, and in Kulhati village there is a new colony with 52 nests.