Rajasthan: Flamingo habitat at Didwana caught amid infrastructure projects

Didwana area has been a winter habitat for thousands of flamingos from Siberia, however, this year they have arrived and stayed past their usual season. The change in the migration pattern is being attributed to impact of the infrastructure projects and human activities at the wetlands.

“Construction of a flyover near the wetlands and associated human activities have made the flamingos avoid Didwana this winter,” explains Dr AK Gautam, associate professor of Zoology at Bangad college. 

“Instead these birds have now gone to Sambhar Lake. It was while these birds were on their return journey to Siberia in March that many of them descended and stayed a Didwana as flyover construction was over by then,” he adds. 

However, if it was a flyover construction that dissuaded the birds, then another infrastructure project has helped them survive the hot summers. It has been a recently commissioned 5 MLD sewage treatment plant that has facilitated their stay. The plant has helped to keep the wetland free of contaminants and provided supply of fresh water. 

“These wetlands have abundance of green blue algae which is a major food source for these migratory birds. It seems that they are making it their home,” says Dr Arun Vyas an ornithologist. There are around 1,200 such flamingos presently dwelling in Didwana wetlands. According to experts the birds that have stayed are those which were too weak to fly all the way back to Siberia. However, experts differ on the issue if these birds will be nesting here to make Didwana their permanent home. 

These birds, a native of Siberia region, arrive every year between November and January to escape the extreme cold conditions there and return by March. Most of them spend winters at Sambhar Lake of Rajasthan while Didwana remains a mid-way stop during their arrival and return.