Migratory Birds Being Haunted. . .

          Migratory birds are the real travellers in our Earth. They travel thousands of kilometres over the oceans and continents. In terms of the distance covered, Arctic Tern is the longest traveller. The most interesting feature of all migratory birds is that their journey is precisely scheduled, and never  go wrong in their way. But how they attain this wonderful ability? This is still a subject under study, and many controversial opinions exist among the scientists. Some believe that the birds make use of the position of Sun and stars, Earth’s magnetism, climate and so on. Anyway, migratory bird are really a reference for weather and climate.  The Director of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Global Climate Change Program, Hans Verolme once said, “birds have long been used as indicators of environmental change.”

Flock of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) - Kerala

          But the results of recent surveys conducted on migratory birds are worrying. The Travancore Natural History Society and the Kottayam Nature Society jointly conducted a bird survey in Ashtamudi and Sasthamkotta lakes in Kollam district, Kerala. The results revealed that there is a considerable drop in the number of migratory birds coming to these lakes. The affected ones include cormorants, Brahminy kites, black kites and so on. See the report came on ‘The Hindu’ website. 

          The reason is probably the pollution of the water bodies, by dumping poultry wastes. Ashtamudi lake is the biggest freshwater lake in Kerala. Both the lakes, Ashtamudi and Sasthamkotta are considered as Ramsar sites by the Ramsar Convention. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance. Wetlands are important habitats for a wide variety of species and unfortunately, these are being destructed alarmingly. There are 25 such Ramsar sites in India. The list of Ramsar sites in India is given in Wikipedia. Ramsar Convention is a treaty that was signed in 1971 at Ramsar in Iran. You can also visit the Ramsar website. 

Flock of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) - Kerala

          The birds are affected not only by the destruction of habitats and by pollution alone. Here is another example that I read . . . Rann of Kutch in Gujarat district is a major location where Flamingos are spotted every year. Its marshy lands are good breeding sites for Flamingos. But last year, around 139 poor Flamingos were killed. See. . . how incidents are occurring. . . ! ! ! This happened by hitting the overhead electric cables, when they made their flight during night, as they couldn’t notice the cables. These cables were set up recently to lit the nearby villages. Electricity is necessary and could not be spared. As a solution, the authorities are thinking of laying underground cables instead of overhead, to avoid such tragedies in future.

          The misfortunes that are haunting these birds in different forms is alarming and something has to be done seriously to save them, otherwise we will have to hear news about more numbers being added to the extinct list. . .