Deep inside the evergreen rainforests of Dihing Patkai National Park in eastern Assam lives one of the rarest and most elusive birds in the world—the White-winged Wood Duck (Asarcornis scutulata), locally known as Deo Hanh or the “spirit duck.”
The state bird of Assam is now Critically Endangered, with its global wild population estimated at only about 150–400 mature individuals. Once distributed much more widely across Northeast India and Southeast Asia, the species has disappeared from many of its former habitats.
Why Dihing Patkai matters
The White-winged Wood Duck is unusually demanding about where it lives. It prefers secluded pools and marshes inside mature tropical evergreen forests, surrounded by dense vegetation and large trees that provide nesting cavities.
That makes Dihing Patkai’s lowland rainforest exceptionally important. Parts of the landscape were identified as globally significant habitat for the species during studies in the early 1990s, and research on the duck helped strengthen the case for protecting the forest.
Today, Dihing Patkai is regarded as one of the bird’s most important surviving Indian strongholds. Other remaining habitats include Nameri Tiger Reserve in Assam and Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh, where conservation surveys are also underway.
A rainforest saved—and a duck given a chance
Conservation campaigns to protect Dihing Patkai stretch back decades. A substantial part of this rainforest eventually received national park protection in 2021, securing crucial habitat not only for the White-winged Wood Duck but also for elephants, primates, wild cats and hundreds of other species.
Protecting the forest, however, does not mean the duck is safe.
Habitat loss and fragmentation, disturbance of forest wetlands and possible hunting remain concerns. Its dependence on quiet forest pools means even relatively small changes to these specialised habitats can have serious consequences.
A dedicated Zoological Survey of India study running from 2024 to 2027 is now surveying Dihing Patkai, Nameri and Pakke to better understand the bird’s current population, distribution, breeding sites and key habitats.
Saving the Deo Hanh means saving its forest
The story of the White-winged Wood Duck offers a simple conservation lesson: a species with such specialised needs cannot be protected without protecting its habitat.
Dihing Patkai’s secluded pools, mature trees, marshes and dense rainforest together provide the conditions this extraordinarily shy bird needs to survive.
For Assam, the stakes are particularly high. The Deo Hanh is more than a critically endangered species—it is the state’s avian emblem and part of its natural heritage.
If the forests and wetlands of Dihing Patkai remain intact, the “spirit duck” still has a refuge. Protecting that refuge may be its best chance of avoiding extinction.
Source credit: Northeast Now / Nature’s Beckon, with additional background from the Zoological Survey of India and Assam government.
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