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A paradise for winter visitors

Last Updated 23 November 2015, 18:22 IST
Winter is almost upon us, a time when one of nature’s most fascinating aspects is at play — migration. While many animals migrate in search of food and better climate, birds are the most popular winter migrators. For them, it is a matter of life and death. As winter approaches, food resources decrease by a great margin, leaving birds no other options but to go in search of greener pastures.

Generally, migration takes place from the north to the south. In order to escape the harsh cold winters of the Northern Hemisphere and the depleting resources, predators and diseases, birds undertake the long, arduous journey of travelling hundreds of kilometres to warmer places, where they have easy access to plenty of food, warmth and shelter. Most of the birds that breed in the different parts of Siberia, Eurasia and the Arctic region begin their journey towards the warm locations in Southern Hemisphere at the onset of winter.

Favoured locations
One of the most preferred locations of such migrating flocks is the eastern plain of North Karnataka. North Karnataka’s vast sprawling grasslands, scrub forests, open farmlands, mudflats, paddy fields, swamps, marshes, reservoirs, lakes and rivers attract millions of birds every year. For instance, Tungabhadra Dam is one of the most favourable locations for the migratory water fowls. The vast reservoir which was completed in 1953, is spread over a surface area of more than 350 sq km and is a paradise for both local and migratory birds. Its never-ending stretches of mud banks, sand banks, islands and islets act as their congregation points. In fact, some birds breed here during summer too.

Some of the major birds that you can find here are waterfowls such as northern pintail, northern shoveler, ruddy shelduck, Eurasian wigeon, garganey, whiskered tern, Oriental pratincole, Pacific golden plover, spotted redshank, wood sandpiper, black-tailed godwit. They feed on small fishes, amphibians, crustaceans, grubs, larva, molluscs and weeds.

Some of the birds even prefer vegetarian food. For instance, the champion of high altitude flight, bar-headed goose that breeds in Mongolia, prefers to eat groundnut, paddy, wheat, horse gram and tender shoots. Birds like rosy starling, black-headed bunting and red-headed bunting prefer cereal grains, millets, berries, fruits, nectar of certain flowers and grains of grass. One can see a cloud of rosy starlings in flight in the mornings and evenings in the plains of black cotton soil of Koppal-Gadag region. Small birds like Siberian stonechat, yellow wagtail, grey wagtail, blue-tailed bee-eater can be found in the surrounding grasslands. Beautiful and large birds like spot-billed pelican, greater flamingo, demoiselle crane can be seen in the reservoirs and river banks of North Karnataka and make for a beautiful visual treat.

Apart from waterfowls, you can also find various other residential birds like painted stork, Asian openbill, Asian woollyneck, black-headed ibis, spot-billed duck, lesser whistling-duck, cotton pygmy-goose, little cormorant, grey heron, purple heron, short-toed snake eagle and many more in the Tungabhadra reservoir. Avid bird-watchers travel to the Reservoir every year in winter to spot these birds. One of the most interesting aspects of bird migration is that these birds are followed by their predators also. Wintering predatory birds like Western marsh harrier, pallid harrier, Montagu’s harrier, falcons and kestrels are commonly seen around the migratory birds.

About 200 species of birds have been recorded in and around Tungabhadra Dam reservoir and more than 10,000 northern pintails are found in winter in the reservoir, apart from thousands of other waterfowls. Consequently, the backwaters of TB Dam is proposed to be listed as an Important Bird Area (IBA).

But all is not well with the migratory birds as they are highly sensitive to climate change. A major change in their migratory pattern has been observed. For instance, last year, it was seen that the black-tailed gowdits arrived early in September, but this year, they are rarely seen. Due to scarce rains this year, the water quantity in the Magadi Lake has reduced by half. According to Somappa Myageri, the watcher-cum-guide at the lake, only 600 bar-headed geese have arrived as of yet, instead of the usual 4,000. In what could be termed as the southernmost sightings of migratory birds, a few greylag goose have been spotted at Magadi Lake and hundreds of common cranes can be seen arriving to River Tungabhadra near Karnataka-Telangana border.

Apart from this, some hunters hunt these prized birds and sell them in markets. But thanks to growing awareness and constant patrolling by civil society organisations like the Society for Wildlife and Nature (SwaN), this kind of poaching is on the decline. As more number of bird watchers are emerging in North Karnataka, such nesting sites make for perfect trips. Many birding organisations are doing their bit by organising trips and encouraging people to take up the hobby of bird-watching. North Karnataka Birders Network (NKBN) is once such organisation that also provides training for the interested ones.
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(Published 23 November 2015, 15:46 IST)

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