Migratory Birds - A great start to 2021

Migration is a ritual in the avian world that comes to them naturally, as it’s said, “it’s in their DNA”. These migratory birds soar high and fly towards distant habitats that are best suited for them, usually hundreds and thousands of kilometres away and across geographical boundaries.

These long haul flights are taken every year to different habitats, depending and specific to each species. It could be either for feeding, breeding or raising their young ones. Though there are many different migration patterns, most of the birds migrate from northern breeding areas to southern wintering grounds. 

However, some birds breed in southern parts and migrate to northern wintering grounds, or horizontally, to enjoy the milder coastal climates in winter. While, some birds reside on lowlands during the winter months and move up a mountain for the summer. Sounds cool isn't!

Often, these journeys are exhaustive, proving their strength and testing their endurance. The Red Knot is one such bird, that has one of the longest total migration routes of any bird, When we heard that they were being sighted in Jamnagar, decided to travel from our home ground Mumbai to see this bird. It was a lifer, but not the only reason that we wanted to see it, but also because it travels up to 16,000 kilometres twice a year. It breeds in Siberia.

We (myself and Yash Kothiala) teamed up with Dhananjay Joshi, after being recommended by Atul Jain again a very senior bird watcher (whom we met just a day before in Nal Sarovar)  He had seen the bird earlier amongst a flock of Great Knots.  

On the morning of 9th Jan 2021 we reached Balachadi beach, we had other birders of the region Mr. Yashodhan Bhatia. We got lucky to meet Mr. Anil Bhardwaj and Mr. Mukesh Bhat from Surat, who too joined us to see the Red Knot. 

The timing chosen was during high tide, simply so that we can sit and wait patiently for the the birds to arrive towards us. 

The morning was very pleasant, the breeze was cool. Sitting on a distant rock, watching the tide and birds approaching us was an experience, we had been missing for a while. The chirping of the shorebirds was echoing, large flocks would come and settle and take off again.

Mix flock of Plovers and Sandpipers - Aseem Kothiala

Amongst the large flock we did sight the Great Knots, who are also long distance migrants which use a limited number of staging sites on its annual round trip between breeding grounds of Russia and non-breeding areas. The Great Knot is another migratory wading bird that travels vast distances between the northern hemisphere breeding grounds and southern hemisphere summer feeding grounds around the coastal fringes. 

Mr. Yashodhan Bhatia a very passionate birder from Jamnagar, was kind enough to show and share details on a particular tagged bird "6Z", a great knot that was tagged on 17th July, 2019 for scientific research. This migratory wader that was tagged in Kamchatka, Russia was sighted at balachadi beach, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. It has flown a distance of more than 7700kms across the continent. 

Great Knot 6Z - Photograph by Yash Kothiala

Great Knots were busy foraging along with other waders such as Curlew Sandpipers, Eurasian Curlews, Bar-tailed Godwits, Little Stints, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand plover and Redshank. Though we keep watching the Great knots with the hope of sighting the Red Knot as well. Common birds of the region were seen, occasionally a lone Harrier would come along and chase the flocks of waders that were roosting.

It is truly amazing how migratory birds can navigate with pin-point accuracy. They make us wonder, how they find their flyways. Some researchers have believed they are able to navigate using the sun during the day, follow the stars at night and definitely by using the geomagnetic field at any time. One such bird is the Bar-tailed Godwit.

A particular geo-tagged eastern bird had shared the migration route it had taken to and from New Zealand. But there is now conclusive evidence that most take the direct route south across the central Pacific to New Zealand. Unlike seabirds, they cannot rest on water or feed at sea, so this 11,000-kilometre journey is the longest non-stop flight undertaken by any bird in just about 8 days.

After spending their summers in Russia, Bar-tailed Godwits head to lowland wet grasslands along the Indian coastline.

Bar tailed Godwit - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

Eurasian Curlew - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

Grey Plover - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

Before reaching Jamnagar we had stopped for a day (8th Jan 2021) at Nal Sarovar, as a special visitor had arrived from Siberia, a loner Red-breasted Goose, possibly had flown in along with another flock. At day break we gathered near the gates of the water body, where the bird had been roosting along with a flock of Greylag geese. 

The flock takes its flight towards the rice fields that were harvested recently, we had some good company here of some birders, like Esha Munshi and Kunan Naik, who were very helpful in not only tracking the bird, but also ensuring it wasn't disturbed by the presence of many nature enthusiasts . 

There was an instance we got to know, the goose was in a field and by the time we drove, it had flown off to another field, but we got lucky as we sighted Greater White-fronted Goose.

Greater White-fronted Goose - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

We rushed to the nearby field, where the Red-breasted Goose was busy foraging, all had lined up in discipline and could hear shutters firing to capture the bird on lens.

Red-Breasted Goose  - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

After a wonderful sighting met up with some veterans like Atul Jain, Jainy Maria, Falguna Shah and many other bird lovers, whom we had interacted with only on social media. Had some amazing breakfast before we parted ways. 

Our guide here in Nal Sarovar was Mehmud Multani, who along with his fellow guide had first sighted the goose and informed us as well. He was familiar with the region and took us to nearby locations where we could sight some lifers like the collared pratincole and yet another migratory bird the Sociable Lapwing.

Sociable Lapwing - Photograph Yash Kothiala

Sociable Lapwings breed in central and northern Kazakhstan and Russia, they are critically endangered and migrate to parts of this region. They were seen in the fields where rice was being sowed a few kilometres away from the sanctuary.

The bird with an elegant necklace, the Collared Pratincole, were foraging on the ground. In about a 200 meters diameter, they had placed themselves and soon were aware of our presence. As we had to drive off to Jamnagar the same afternoon, did not wait long.

Collared Pratincole - Photograph Yash Kothiala

Mehmud mentioned about another location where the Barbary falcon was being seen, so we took a chance by visiting the habitat, we could sight the Sykes's nightjar roosting during the day. What a lovely day, we saw almost four lifers!

Sykes's Nightjar  - Photograph Yash Kothiala

2020 had kept us home and away from birding for most time of year, wanted to start the year 2021 by seeing some amazing birds. We set out early morning (1st Jan 2021) to reach the grasslands (Lonavala Tata Dam) near Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, a stopover site this year of the Amur Falcon.

The Amur Falcon is a fascinating migratory raptor. Every year, the small, resilient birds makes the daring voyage from breeding grounds in Russia to winter in southern Africa. It is supposed that the falcons cross the Arabian Sea during their migration, but much is still unknown about the patterns of their estimated 22,000 km migration.

Because of the long journey, stopover sites are important for Amur Falcons to maintain stamina. 

The place was buzzing not only with Amur Falcons, Lesser Kestrels, but also with bird watchers and bird photographers from far and near, met up with many familiar names and faces. 

Meadows were blooming making an excellent habitat. Occasionally the bird would fly into them to catch its prey.

Amur Falcon - Photograph by Aseem Kothiala

Amur Falcon (male) - Photograph Aseem Kothiala

Prathamesh Desai who was with us felt that the bird would not continue its journey to Southern Africa, but return to its breeding ground from here itself. The year 2021 has started with a new hope for us and my fellow birders Gautam Rathor and Shrikant Vipat.

Happy Birding!

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