Hyd Atlas logs 218 bird species; birders raise red flags on dwindling migratory avians

Time of India

4 days ago

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Bird Atlas (HBA) has recorded over 2.3 lakh individual birds and 218 species across two rounds held this year, one in winter and another during the current monsoon.
HBA is a citizen science initiative jointly undertaken by World Wide Fund, Deccan Birders and Hyderabad Birding Pals to document bird diversity across seasons in the city.
The first season, conducted in Feb, focused on the winter period, a time when Hyderabad hosts both resident and migratory birds. This round saw the participation of 209 volunteers, who covered 180 unique locations across the city and peri-urban areas.
In all, 195 bird species were documented, and 70,187 individual birds were counted.
The second season, held earlier this month, focused on the monsoon period, when resident birds dominate the landscape, and many are engaged in breeding activity. This round saw increased participation, with 225 volunteers. It resulted in 166 bird species being recorded, and 62,811 individual birds counted.
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However, the bird watchers have raised concerns over a sharp decline in migratory birds that once visited Telangana in large numbers.
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The state used to see thousands of migratory birds arriving from Mongolia, Europe, Central Asia, and the Tibetan plateau during the winter months. Several species that were once common in Hyderabad and lakes in its vicinity were either missing or being seen in drastically reduced numbers.
"The change is not subtle anymore. It's stark and visible," said Sudhir Moorthi K, founder of Deccan Birders. "Among the most visibly missing are greater flamingos, which used to grace lakes across Hyderabad such as Ameenpur lake, Fox Sagar, and Osmansagar in large numbers," he added.
These birds breed in the Rann of Kutch (Gujarat) and typically arrive in Telangana between Oct and March.
Another missing visitor was the bar-headed goose, known as the world's highest-flying bird, capable of soaring over the Himalayas at 29,000 feet. "These birds breed in the high-altitude lakes of Mongolia, Tibet, and Central Asia. Their migration to Telangana usually peaks between Nov and early March. They need large, clean water bodies to rest and feed, which are now increasingly hard to find," said Sriram Reddy of Birding Pals Hyderabad and project coordinator of HBA.
Several species of migratory ducks, such as the red-crested pochard, common pochard, northern pintail, northern shoveller, and garganey, have also seen declining numbers.
According to bird watchers, polluted lakes choke their food sources. Encroachments have also left very little undisturbed space. Experts blame this decline on habitat loss, pollution of water bodies, air and noise pollution, and unregulated urban expansion.
"Air pollution impairs their ability to fly long distances safely, while noise pollution disrupts their navigation and communication. Constant construction activity and vehicular noise near lakes and wetlands deter birds from landing or resting," Sriram Reddy added.
Hyderabad alone has lost hundreds of lakes to encroachments, landfills, and real estate development. "Even existing lakes suffer from untreated sewage inflow and plastic dumping. Birds don't just need water; they need clean, undisturbed water. We have to stop treating wetlands as wastelands," said Vinay Manchala, an environmentalist and a regular bird watcher at Ameenpur Lake.