Bird tagged in Mumbai spotted in China

In a significant achievement in studying bird migration, a Curlew Sandpiper tagged in Mumbai has been spotted in the Tianjin province of China.

The bird was tagged by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

The Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that generally breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and south-east Asia and in Australia and New Zealand.

The Curlew Sandpiper was first caught and tagged at a wetland behind T.S. Chanakya in Palm Beach Road at Nerul in Navi Mumbai on March 18, 2019, with unique Flag No. 7N5. Subsequently, the same bird was recaptured on January 13, 2020, at Bhandup Pumping Station in Mumbai.

The bird was now resighted at Tianjin in China on May 6, 2021, during its northward migration to the breeding site.

“Migratory birds wintering at Thane creek use the adjacent wetlands as their high-tide roosts. Remarkably these birds show high fidelity to their traditional feeding and roosting sites as it is evident from their frequent resightings at these wetlands in the same as well as subsequent migratory seasons. This signifies the importance of these habitats and the urgent need for their conservation,” BNHS Director Dr Bivash Pandav said.

Through the earlier studies, gulls, terns, shorebirds and flamingos ringed in Central Asia, Persian Gulf, eastern Asia and along the islands in the Indian Ocean were recorded along the coast of Maharashtra.

“The bird tagged by Mrugank and his team was recited in the Tangu saltpans in Tianjin, China, near the shoreline. Tianjin province of China is the first record of international resighting of a waterbird tagged on the coasts of Mumbai and adjoining wetlands,” said Dr Pandav.

Bird banding and ringing activities by BNHS are revealing fascinating insights into migratory birds – the political boundaries they cross, and the potential hurdles they conquer on the way.

Bird ringing is a conventional study involving banding a bird with a lightweight metal ring, with a unique alpha-numeric code. In addition to the metal ring, BNHS is also using colour- flags, colour-bands and neck-collars on certain species. These colour combinations are in accordance with the international flyway protocols, so as to avoid redundancy in the combination.

“BNHS is a veteran at bird ringing, and uses its wide citizen and ornithological network to track birds in other countries. Most tagged individuals are identified through high-resolution photographs,” he added.

India is the current President of the Convention on Migratory Species and falls under the Central Asian Flyway, which mainly has North to South winter migration. Flyways refer to the paths bird follow in the sky.

The country has recently launched a National Action Plan for the Central Asian Flyway and has a leadership role in protecting migratory birds and working with other countries along the flyway.

A network of 29 sites comprising 20 major wetlands and nine wetland clusters have been identified as critical sites for migratory waterbirds under the CAF National Action Plan and are being surveyed by BNHS.

The Forest Department frontline staff of these sites are being trained in the basics of bird migration, monitoring and bird ringing for better implementation of the management activities.