For the first time, the Mumbai-based leading nature research body Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has decided to satellite-tag the winter avian guests of India's commercial capital, the majestic flamingos, to track their global movements.
BNHS director Dr Bivash Pandav said, to begin with, the process will be done for about ten birds at the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary.
BNHS has already applied to the Telecom Department for using GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) bandwidth to be used for monitoring the tagged birds. The organisation will also need customs clearances.
The radio tags, attached to a harness, will be looped to the birds’ wings like "school bags for kids," a researcher said.
Traditionally, flamingos fly into Mumbai from various parts of the world such as Iran, Afghanistan and Israel, apart from Kutch, and spend their winter here at various wetlands – from Mahul-Sewree, Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, Navi Mumbai. The BNHS study will help understand the pattern of their flights.
The current system of tagging has its limitations for tracking as the researchers have to wait for alerts from those who notice them and those who have an eye for the tags. But in the case of the satellite tagging, study teams can download the signals from anywhere, depending on the network.“This is a very exciting development,” said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation.
Describing the migratory birds as "ambassadors of environment," he said the advanced tech-based tracking will help better understand biodiversity.
NatConnect Foundation has suggested to BNHS to extend the process to Navi Mumbai wetlands where BNHS itself has identified five water bodies for conservation. “Right now, there are hardly any birds at NRI or TS Chanakya wetlands, but once we get to see them, we can definitely go there,” Dr Pandav said.
BNHS has planned to conserve the wetlands at Belpada, Bhendkhal, Panje, NRI and TS Chanakya and Bhandup as part of the TCFS Satellite Sanctuaries.
Researchers were excited when some birds tagged by BNHS three-to-four years ago were found again at Panje and Alibaug.
Birds have the typical habit of site fidelity, returning to the same area, which is tracked with the help of tagging. This has its limitations as BNHS has to wait for someone to observe the tags and report.
But with radio-tagging, BNHS will be able to continuously monitor movements of birds.
BNHS is currently working on bird flight patterns in connection with two major projects – the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) and the Navi Mumbai International Airport. The Union Environment Ministry has made it mandatory to work on wildlife mitigation for the two projects under construction now.
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