NEW DELHI: With winter setting in, several migratory bird species have started flocking to the wetlands. While certain species of wader birds, like sandpipers, which prefer shallower waters, start arriving by late September, major migratory ducks, like Northern shoveler, Gadwall, Greylag geese, Pallas’s gulls, brown-headed and black-headed gulls, coots, etc have now begun settling in different wetlands of Delhi-NCR, including Yamuna Biodiversity Park and Sultanpur National Park. Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist in-charge of DDAs biodiversity parks. said, “Their numbers and species density will increase by mid-November. He pointed out that the migratory birds arriving here were from central Asia and Siberia and were “energy budgeting”. “The routes include Siberia, central Asia and Rajasthan. Before reaching Delhi, the birds make several stoppages. Therefore, even though their migration has started, it’ll take some time for them to reach here in big numbers,” said Khudsar, adding that several migratory species could be seen at Yamuna Biodiversity Park, including tufted pochard, common pochard, Eurasian coot and Black redstart. Delhi-NCR accounts for almost one-third of the total bird species found in India. The region has about 1,800 species of fauna out of which 446 are bird species. There are nine protected areas, including one national park, six wildlife sanctuaries, one reserve forest and one conservation reserve. There are eight important bird areas, including Okhla Bird sanctuary (Gautam Budh Nagar), Sultanpur National Park (Gurgaon), Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary (Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bijnor), Basai Wetlands (Gurgaon) etc. None of them are in Delhi. In a major setback to birders, a dried-out Okhla Bird Sanctuary is yet to attract the migratory flocks. Officials said the sanctuary’s wetland was dry due to opening of the barrage. “Due to some conflict between the irrigation and forest departments, the entire wetland is dry. This is the time of the year when birds start reaching, but there is no water,” said birder Balbir Arora. “Ducks need water, and since there is none at Okhla right now, they may not come,” said another birder, Narendra Singh Khaira. Due to availability of water at other wetlands, the birds have flown there. “At Sultanpur National Park, which is full of water, several species of migratory birds can be spotted. They include Northern shoveler, Gadwall, Greylag geese, Pallas’s gulls, brown-headed and black-headed gulls and several waders. In Delhi, birding was being done at Yamuna Khadar, but due to farming the flock sizes have started to drop. However, Yamuna Biodiversity Park attracts birds as it’s protected,” said Khaira.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/treat-for-eyes-as-winter-guests-start-arriving/articleshow/95435854.cms
