THOOTHUKUDI: Migratory birds from across different continents are yet to arrive at the tanks fed by river Thamirabarani in Thoothukudi, and experts opine that the winter season getting delayed in the European continent may have led to this hold-up. Huge congregations of birds annually fly down to the southern Indian peninsula all the way from European countries, Russia, Siberia, Norway and Mongolia between September and March months.
Upset over missing sightings of the little stint, shanks, and sandpipers in October and November, bird watchers said, "Our only respite is that wetland water birds like blue-tailed bee-eater, barn shallows, yellow wagtail, have arrived here en masse from north India and the Himalayan region this time."
Pearlcity Nature Trust president and environmentalist J Thomas Mathibalan told TNIE that winged visitors like Eurasian wigeon, garganeys, pintail ducks, and northern shovellers would usually be sighted by this time of year at Karungulam, Perungulam, Vellur, Nallur and Arumugamangalam tanks in Thoothukudi. "However, we have recorded very few birds this year. The birds begin their journey to tropical countries from Europe only after the winter begins there," he sighed.
Attributing the delay to the climate change phenomenon, Eragugal Amirta Nature Trust founder president Raveendran Natarajan told TNIE that the number of birds arriving on the east coast had plummeted compared to the west coast of India.
"The first batch of migratory birds, mostly the young ones, have arrived, but the adult birds have still not landed on the east coast. Last year, the birds stayed here en masse till May as against their regular return time of March-April. They might skip coming to India this year. If this changing pattern of migration continues, the population of migratory birds may reduce drastically," he said. Sakthi Manickam, another staunch bird watcher, said he had spotted a few migratory birds, including booted-eagle, in the district so far.