Hundreds of people gathered at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoological Gardens to say goodbye to panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao as they were returned to China amid diplomatic tensions, leaving Japan without any pandas for the first time in 50 years. (PICS/AFP)

The Mangrove Cell on Saturday conducted a waterbird census as part of the Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) programme, a citizen science initiative that monitors waterbirds and wetlands across Asia. The AWC is organised by Wetlands International under the global International Waterbird Census and is conducted annually in January. (PICS/ MANGROVE CELL- MAHARASHTRA FOREST DEPARTMENT)