Karnataka bird sanctuaries will miss their feathered guests

It is not just trees and animals that are bearing the brunt of our changing, rapidly growing city’s demands.

Our feathered friends too seem to have chosen greener pastures as two rare coastal transitory bird sanctuaries at Malyadi and Thalloor have been abandoned by migratory birds for the last three seasons. It is unlikely they will ever return.

Thanks to the irrational use of pesticides and harmful fertilisers and chemicals by farmers, the land that once saw flocks of birds from around the world, is now barren and bereft of any life support system for the birds. “We do not know if many species of birds that once flocked here, now recognise the place or not, but on examining we found that the composition of the land had changed from fertile agricultural land into land that had lost all organisms on which the birds generally feed,” said NA Madhyastha, member of Karnataka State Wildlife Board and Director of the National Research Project on Malacology.

“Malyadi used to receive 41 species of birds out of which 15 were migratory bird species. Whistling teals, purple moor hen, white ibis, comb duck (also called Nakta), carmorants and darters were some of the birds that were found in Malyadi in abundance. They are hard to find now as there is no food here any more. Different species of long-distance fliers like terns and golden plovers from Europe, at least five types of sand pipers, red and green shanks, cotton tails and yellow wagtails from the Himalayas, rosy pastors from Afghanistan and Pakistan were some of the visitors to Malyadi, but all these are now not to be seen,” Madhyastha said.

A little distance from Malyadi is a transitory sanctuary at Thalloor, where things are moving from bad to worse. The sanctuary that served as a transit camp for migratory birds, is also covered by mangroves. But here it is not just pesticides but also  prawn culture units that are threatening the migratory birds.

The prawn culture units take in salt water and store it on estuarine grounds by destroying Mangrove forests. As a result, the migratory birds that feed on insects and small estuarine organisms do not find their food, and due to the change in landscape the birds do not recognise their traditional transit camps.

All this despite there being a Supreme Court ban on salt water prawn culture.

“We do not know if birds have just changed their routes or is it warning against degeneration of land, generally the birds do not change their nesting grounds or transitory camps unless the situation is out of control. But let us not forget that birds can sense changes in the environment and ecology faster than other species,” said Madhyastha.