The story of migrating birds is the story of a promise to return, flying thousands of miles beset with dangers. Since the second half of September, flocks of waders, ducks, songbirds, cranes and raptors have started arriving in the Indian subcontinent to escape the cold and snow of the northern latitudes.
In the second half of October, the annual congregation of Amur Falcons over the Doyang landscape in Nagaland will be a sight to behold—a pit stop before the onward journey to South Africa. If you can't make the trip to Doyang, visit the village of Khichan in Rajasthan, the wintering home of Demoiselle cranes. Gujarat is another birding wonderland in the winter months—from Nal Sarovar in Ahmedabad and the Rann of Kutch (Great and Little Rann), to the Jamnagar coastline along the Marine National Park.
Waders or shorebirds are among the record holders of longest solo flights. Like the Bar-tailed godwits, flying 7,000-plus miles non-stop is a regular affair. Species of godwits, sandpipers, snipes, stints and plovers are some of the avian kingdom's most accomplished fliers visiting us year after year.
The diversity of waders is stunning; numbering hundreds of thousands, they spend the winter (arriving in autumn) on our coastal beaches, mudflats and shallow inland lakes before departing in spring for distant breeding grounds in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia (Russia).
In June, birder Caroline Pickett from Gann Estuary, Pembrokeshire, England, posted a picture of an adult Curler sandpiper with a black leg flag that read "MAB." The said bird was ringed (a scientific exercise to catch, tag and release birds to study) in November 2022 at Puthalam Saltpans, Kanyakumari. Imagine its astonishing journey from the southern tip of India to one corner of Wales! And lest we forget, from recent memory, the epic migration of Onno, an oriental cuckoo, in 2020. When the coronavirus lockdowns brought humanity to a standstill, the cuckoo's 16,000 miles round trip through Mongolia, China, India, and Africa went viral on social media. This was also one of the longest journeys recorded by any land bird. More recently, the sighting of the rare Arctic tern (spotted in India after 96 years), White-cheeked tern, and masked booby in Mumbai got birders thronging the Sassoon Dock in early September. However, the climate crisis is resetting the bird migration compass and calendar, with untold consequences for biodiversity. Other notable important bird habitats in the country indicate an overall population decline. Most wetlands and lakes in the country have either shrunk or been obliterated due to encroachment.
The population declines in species like Ruff, Eastern curlew, Spoon-billed sandpiper, Asian dowitcher, and Black-tailed godwit are of great concern to ornithologists and wildlife conservationists. The decline of migratory and resident wader species has been noticed across the subcontinent. For example, at Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu (also a must-visit place), the decline is conspicuous to ornithologists and the average nature enthusiast. The disappearance of the "clouds" of waders is a visible indicator of the decline. In the 1980s, over 5,00,000 waders wintered at Point Calimere but were down to 1,00,000 by 2008, as per the Bombay Natural History Society.
Today, the future of bird migration is at stake as rapid urbanisation shrinks natural habitats. It is time to stop and ask: What's in store for our avian community?