Maintaining their annual tryst with the region, the migratory birds have started flocking to the wetlands in Himachal, Haryana and Punjab for their winter sojourn.
After their arrival was delayed due to much hotter and humid climatic conditions in the northern region in October this year, the winged guests have finally started descending in good numbers from far flung areas at shallow water bodies in the three states.
Himachal Pradesh’s Pong Dam wetland, known as ‘Birding Paradise’, is currently hosting more than 5000 migratory birds of different species namely Eurasian Coot, Northern Pintail, Common Teal, Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Little Ringed Plover, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwal, Eurasian Wigeon, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Pallas’s Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Great Cormorant, Osprey, White Wagtail among others.
“Due to changing weather conditions and relatively colder climate, the long distant winter migratory water birds arrival has started now and will be continuing depending on climatic condition till November end or maximum within December,” said TK Roy, ecologist and Asia Waterbird Census (AWC) Delhi state-coordinator while talking to The Pioneer.
Among the arrived long distant winter migratory water birds in the region, more numbers are reported in species like Northern Pintail, Common Teal, Northern Shoveler and Eurasian Coots. Bar-headed Goose and Greylag Goose are yet to arrive in large numbers at various wetlands in Himachal, Punjab and Haryana, Roy said.
He said, “As per the official estimates, more than 6000 migratory birds at Haryana’s Sultanpur, over 5000 at Pong Dam and around 500 at Punjab’s Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve are recorded till now.”
Escaping cold biting conditions in their summer homes and braving the high snow-laden peaks of Himalayas, more than lakhs of migratory birds from Central Asia and Siberian reach India every year for their winter sojourn.
Among various species that have arrived across the region also included Black-tailed Godwit, Common Pochard and Ferruginous Duck, which are listed in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation) Red List of threatened species.
At Pong Dam, the migratory bird species namely Northern Pintail, Common Teal have arrived in hundreds. More than 500 in the number of each of these species is recorded while the maximum number of Eurasian Coot to be over 3000 is reported at the water body.
In Punjab’s Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve, migratory birds species namely Common Teal, Gadwal, Northern Shoveler are reported in smaller flocks while fewer number of
Common Pochard, Common Greenshank, Marsh Harrier, Common Snipe, Citrine Wagtail are also recorded.
At Ropar wetland in Punjab, maximum number of Eurasian Coot which is in hundreds and smaller number of each species namely Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Common Teal have arrived till now.
Similarly, at Sultanpur National Park in Haryana, each species namely Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Common Teal, Ferruginous Duck are reported to be more than two hundreds in number and Eurasian Coot have also reached in large numbers at the water body. Eurasian Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard, Gadwal, White-tailed Lapwing have also arrived in smaller numbers at the Sultanpur national park.
Apart from this, migratory species like Red-crested Pochard, Gadwal and Common Pochard are recorded in smaller flocks and Indian migratory Painted Stork, Woolly-necked Stork have arrived in fewer numbers at Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary in Jhajjar. Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler and Common Teal are also reported in a flock of more than hundreds of each species at Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary.
At Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake, species namely Ruddy Shelduck and Eurasian coot have arrived in smaller numbers till now.
Roy said, “Once the weather turns chilly, we are expecting arrival of good numbers of each species of ducks, wader species and raptors in mid November-December across the region. Bar-headed Goose and Gray-lag Goose which always arrive in large numbers everywhere are yet to arrive at the wetlands in good numbers.”
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND STUBBLE BURNING IMPACTING MIGRATION PATTERN
Warm and humid climatic conditions in the northern region of the country in the month of October remained the major factor leading to the delay in arrival of migratory birds this year. Earlier, the migratory birds used to descend on wetlands across the northern region by the first week of October.
TK Roy said, “It has been observed that the prolonged summer is altering the annual migration of birds. In the last few years, delayed arrival and early de-migration of migratory birds was observed at prominent water bodies in the region.”
“Besides the global climate change, the stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana especially in NCR -Delhi has also impacted the migratory birds. The smog leads to poor visibility and makes it difficult for the birds to navigate the location of the desired wetlands,” he said. However, the impact of stubble burning was comparatively less this year as compared to 2019, he added.