Migratory birds arrive early at Odisha's Chilika lake amid mild temperatures

Berhampur (Odisha): Even though winter is yet to set in the state, winged guests have started to arrive at Odisha's Chilika lake, the biggest waterfowl habitat in the country, an official said.

The migratory birds have already started to arrive in the lake from the first week of the current month, as the usual time of their arrival, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Chilika Wildlife Division, Amlan Nayak said on Tuesday.

Their arrival was continuing daily, he said.

Migratory birds of different species like northern pintail, Eurasian wigeon, gadwall, black-tailed gadwall, northern shoveller, greater flamingo, common sandpiper, common coot, mongolian plover, common snipe, black winged stilt, etc, have already swooped down in the lake, Nayak said.

The DFO said the arrival of migratory birds to the lake is as usual, even though the day temperature in and around the blue lagoon was hovering at 32 to 35 degrees Celsius at present.

The onset of winter and some other causes in their native places might have forced the birds to fly to Chilika, he added.

Several birds are also seen to fly in the sky near Chilika without settling on the lake. They might land once the water level recedes in the lake, Nayak said, adding, "We expected their number might be in large by the end of the current month." The winged guests mostly from beyond the Himalayas in Northern Eurasia, Caspian region, Siberia, Kazakh, Lake Baikal and remote areas of Russia and neighbouring countries visit the Chilika lake every winter and start their homeward journey before the onset of summer in the second week of March.

In the last winter, a total of 11,37,759 birds of 187 species visited Chilika and the majority of them settled in the Nalabana sanctuary area inside the lake.

To prevent bird poaching in the lake during the period, the wildlife division has set up 21 temporary camps in the lake. They have also hired around a dozen boats for patrolling in the lake. Besides, they have decided to make surveillance through drones like the previous year.

The camps have already started functioning from October 1 and will continue till the end of March. With the setting up of the camps, patrolling was also intensified in the lake. The drive to create awareness among the people to prevent bird poaching was also launched in the vulnerable areas, said the forest official.