Bird enthusiasts have a reason to smile with the long- awaited winter migratory birds including the bar- headed geese arriving in the Ganga river. Five pairs of bar headed geese have been sighted in Misserpur wetlands on Wednesday, but the delayed arrival of these winged guests has become a matter of concern for the bird scientists. It seems that this year, the effect of global warming on the bird arrivals has been the most as compared to the past three years, say the researchers on migratory birds.
“Since the bar- headed goose has started coming to Haridwar over the past three years, this year’s entry has been much delayed. Earlier in 2015-2016, they arrived by 15-20 December, but this year they were sighted by our team in January. The scientists conducting research on timings of migratory birds say that a marked variation has been observed worldwide in the arrival timings of winter migratory birds and their returning in spring season,” said Dinesh Bhatt, head of Zoology department at Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, who is heading the project under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
This change in the biological clock of migratory birds is affecting their breeding pattern too since the food availability is not much when they land, state experts. The soaring temperatures and changes in environment have reduced the food supply for the insect -eating birds. Expressing concern over the changing pattern of migration in bar- headed geese, Bhatt said, “If measures are not taken in time to reduce global warming it may happen that many of these migratory birds stop coming to Haridwar as well. Ganga flow must be restored at all costs and the mining in nearby areas be checked for retaining the biodiversity of the region. The illegal felling of trees needs to be curbed too.”
The bar-headed geese have been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalaya and are one the world’s highest flying birds. Just like the health variations are marked in human beings who work in night shifts, in the same way the breeding pattern of the birds is disturbed by disturbance in biological clock, says the ornithologist.