NAGAPATTNAM: With the migratory season at Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary beginning to peak, researchers have begun mounting rings on the feet of the migratory birds to study their migrating patterns. Scores of migratory birds have been arriving at the district's Kodiyakarai wetlands over the past few weeks, and are set to arrive in the thousands in the coming days.
"Kodiyakarai is one of the largest bird congregation sites in the stand," said Abhishek Tomar, district forest officer and wildlife warden. "The arrival of migratory birds is early and is slowly increasing over time. Age-old techniques like ringing are helpful to study their migration."
Bird-ringing is a process through which researchers study migration, migratory routes, life, survival and site fidelity. The birds are first caught with nets and brought indoors, where their features like age, length, wing span and weight are studied. The researchers then mount aluminium rings on their feet with details like the name of the research institute and a unique series of numbers.
Ringing the birds will help analyse data imprinted on them and study previous migration patterns. The birds are then released at the same site where they are caught, and from where they move on to another sanctuary or a similar complex of wetlands.
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a non-governmental organisation working on conservation and biodiversity research in India, in an agreement with the forest department in Nagapattinam, has been ringing migratory birds arriving at Point Calimere Wildlife and Birds Sanctuary for many years. "We have ringed over 350 birds since July, among them Little Stints, Marsh Sandpipers, Eurasian Curlews and Common Redshanks. Some of the birds we caught were the ones we ringed eight years ago, meaning they have returned after eight years," said S Balachandran, ornithologist and deputy director of BNHS.