Mumbai’s avian guests flamingos start arriving

While Greater flamingos are one of the tallest birds found in India, the Lesser flamingos compensate for their shorter stature with their colour's richness

Flamingos, the avian guests of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) have started arriving but the numbers are yet to swell.

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and environmentalists have confirmed the arrival of the flamingos.

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As thousands of tourists thronged parts of Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS) and other creek areas in MMR, commoners would be able catch a glimpse of the sea of pink.

Researchers would also be able to document the behaviour of the lesser flamingos termed the ‘Flamingo March’ or ‘Dance of the Flamingos’.

During the winter of 2021-22, a record over 1,33,000 flamingos landed at the now Ramsar wetland site-tagged TCFS as per a BNHS count, but during the current season, the numbers are less. However, they expect the numbers to go up.

“We expect larger numbers by March,” BNHS Deputy Director Dr Rahul Khot said.

Flamingos were first spotted in Mumbai in 1994 -- and two types of birds of this species Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) and Lesser flamingos (Phoenicopterus minor) could be spotted in Mumbai-MMR during the winters.

Most of these birds, which are found here, arrive from the Great Rann of Kutch in neighbouring Gujarat. Some palaeontologists and ornithologists believe that they are the birds, which is a link between the family of birds comprising storks, herons, ibises, spoonbills and cranes and the group that comprises ducks, swans and geese.

While Greater flamingos are one of the tallest birds found in India (average height of nearly four feet), the Lesser flamingos compensate for their shorter stature with their colour's richness. While the bigger ones have light pink legs and a few streaks of pink on their feathers, the smaller ones have deep pink feathers and almost red legs and a black bill. In the twilight, they look like flames and hence the name has been derived.

Besides the Great Rann of Kutch, they are also found in Point Calimere in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, Chilka in Orissa and Sambhar in Rajasthan. In Maharashtra a few are also seen in Solapur and Aurangabad.

“We have miles to go in terms of securing our biodiversity as the wetlands, mangroves and the hills face constant threats even from the government-owned agencies such as CIDCO and PWD,” said B N Kumar, Director of NatConnect Foundation.

The maintenance of wetlands is vital or else the thousands of birds may fly helter-skelter and even land in the airport area. This could pose dangers to the flights -- a point which has been repeatedly stressed. NatConnect has now drawn the attention of the Comptroller General of Audit (CGA) of India to the fact that the grave concern has been ignored and the airport project is in rapid progress.