A rag picker looks for valuables among a group of Greater Adjutant Storks in a garbage dump site near Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam. Photo by Ritu Raj Konwar, via The Hindu

Looking at the photo above, you may not see much to like in the Greater Adjutant, a type of stork found primarily in northern India and parts of Cambodia. But these big birds are important scavengers in their ecosystem, helping to break down dead animals. In this way they’re like vultures, a similarly-maligned group of relatively unattractive birds. As you’ll read below, many rural communities in India historically did not welcome the Greater Adjutant, which is classified as endangered by the IUCN. But storks, like other large avian families such as vulture and cranes, are not doing too well on a global scale: of the nineteen species of stork, the IUCN labels fifteen of their population trends as decreasing; four are endangered, while two are near-threatened and three are vulnerable. All of which makes the news from the state of Assam in India even more heartening:

DADARA, INDIA — On a cloudy day in July, in a remote village in northeastern India, Charu Das excitedly imitates the awkward movements of a stork with her hands.

In a few months, the greater adjutant stork—called hargilla, which means “swallower of bones” in Sanskrit—will descend on this hamlet, situated in Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley, to breed in large numbers.

“You will soon catch sight of this dark, quirky-looking bird, with large, thick bills, stalking over the beds of these wetlands or on the rain-soaked paddy fields in its typical military gait,” Das says.

Dadara and two nearby villages, Pasariya, and Singimari, are flanked by food-rich wetlands and brimming with tall trees perfect for nesting. The region has become a major stronghold for this homely creature: Due mostly to deforestation and widespread development of wetlands, only between 800 and 1,200 greater adjutant storks remain in India and Cambodia, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

But thanks to the efforts of the Hargilla Army, a conservation brigade of 70 local women, the region is now “the biggest greater adjutant nesting colony in the world,” says Purnima Devi Barman, a wildlife biologist with Aaranyak, a conservation nonprofit in Assam.

Half—or around 550—of the big birds live in these three villages, according to a 2015 study led by Barman.

“Such a large number of nests have not been recorded in other …. colonies in India or in Cambodia.”

Backed by the district administration and local conservation groups, the Hargilla Army has been successful reducing threats and protecting habitat of the stork that the group won the United Nations Development Program India’s 2016 Biodiversity Award.

From Filthy to Famous

Not too long ago, however, the bird wasn’t quite as welcome.

Many villagers considered the birds “filthy” because of their smelly droppings; harsh calls; and tendency to litter their food, sometimes collected from garbage dumps, Barman says.

Because the birds are so large—up to 18 pounds (eight kilograms)—and live in colonies, trees have to be strong enough to hold them and their many nests.

However, most tall, hardy trees grow on private lands, and local people would often chop the trees down to get rid of the storks, she says. (Take National Geographic’s bird quiz.)

The solution, Barman thought, was to work with the local communities to conserve the animal. Because women play decisive roles in Assam’s rural households, Barman began befriending them, especially those from the families of tree owners.

Sacred Bird

She organized small, informal meetings to talk about the bird’s role in the environment, such as scavenging and disposing of dead animals and its essential link in the food chain of the surroundings wetlands. Barman also emphasized the bird’s importance in Hindu mythology, as Lord Vishnu’s mount.

Thus the Hargilla Army was born.

“We were awestruck … by the newfound importance of our villages due to this bird and the trees,” recalls Nilima Das, a brigade member who’s now an active conservationist. (Das is a common last name in Dadara.)

“Soon we realized that the bird in our backyard is not ordinary. It is sacred, and with just a few hundred left in the world … we are fortunate to own the trees where they breed,” she says with pride. (See more stork photos.)

After the women convinced their families to save the nesting trees, the people began developing a sense of ownership toward them—and since 2010, no one has cut down a tree, Barman claims.

Ornithologist Asad Rahmani says the brigade’s work has helped the bird.

“I have personally visited the villages and witnessed the tremendous community-based effort of the Hargilla Army,” says Rahmani, senior scientific advisor at the Bombay Natural History Society, who has not been involved in the project.

“The best part is that the brigade has been drawn from the rural community women” who know their environment well, and are thus best suited to safeguard the birds.

Safe Haven

The conservation brigade, organized into 14 groups with five members, also has the support of many district administrators, police, and local nonprofits, says Barman, whose dedication to the species has earned her the nickname “Hargilla Baido,” or “Stork Sister.”

“It was my childhood dream to work on this spectacularly distinct bird, being pushed dangerously close to extinction,” she says.