Shrinking green threat to migratory birds

The world is celebrating World Migratory Bird Days this weekend on a rather sad note. The global trend is that the number of birds migrating is declining every passing year.

This year, a distinct fall is being noticed, but sufficient data is yet to be compiled to arrive at a concrete conclusion about the quantum of decline.

The central theme of this year’s WMBD is ‘Save migratory birds in crisis - every species counts!’ For India, the Siberian Crane is already history. The bird which once frequented Bharatpur in Rajasthan has stopped since a few years.

“By and large, the total number of migratory birds are declining gradually world over. They are the only floating biomass that connects the two poles; they are the only link. They are being hunted and their habitats destroyed; climate change and urbanization are amongst the reasons,” says member and Asian Waterbird Census coordinator with Wetlands International, Bharat Jethwa.

In Ahmedabad this year, though the official state government figures are yet to be released, the sense coming from two most popular wetlands - Nal Sarovar and Thol Bird Sanctuary - are not euphoric.

But rest of Gujarat continues to host the avian beauties in large numbers. Khijadia wetland and Narayan Sarovar sanctuary in Rann of Kutch did not have a dry run.  But that does not mean problems don’t exist. “Global concern of habitat loss is prevalent here too