Flamingos stump experts

AHMEDABAD, April 27: Those who brave the heat and venture the 65 km to Nal Sarovar may witness a surprising scene: Flocks of flamingoes. ...

AHMEDABAD, April 27: Those who brave the heat and venture the 65 km to Nal Sarovar may witness a surprising scene: Flocks of flamingoes. Unusual because this wading bird is known to visit Gujarat only during the winter. Flamingoes have also been spotted, in small numbers, round-the-year in coastal Saurashtra. Also, a flock of some 4,000-odd flamingoes is resident to Mahi estuary.

Experts offer several explanations for this phenomenon, but none seems to have a definitive view.

Some, including Conservator of Forests wildlife Bharat Pathak, point out that there is a flock of flamingo native to Gujarat. However, Pathak adds, there is no way to ascertain the type of flock at Nal Sarovar as ringing a technique to trace migration has not been carried out on a large-scale.

Supporting the local-flock theory is Gujarat Ecological Education and Research GEER Foundation director H S Singh, who adds that some migratory flamingoes often depart late and leave for area around the Caspian Sea by May. Singh also offers the explanation that some flamingos returning northwards from south India might be resting at Nal Sarovar. 8220;The migration ends by April-end.8221; Pathak, concurring, says migratory birds do not fly non-stop, but take breaks to re-charge their batteries.

Another explanation comes from forest officer Udai Vora, who says that the good rains last year have reduced the salinity in Nal Sarovar. 8220;These are conducive conditions for flamingoes8221;, he points out; when the water dries up, the flocks will go to coastal Saurashtra. This point is contradicted, however, by Pathak, who says that receding water levels increase the availability of fish and crab; by inference, shallow water is conducive to flamingoes.

Singh also points to a larger phenomenon: Change in the nesting pattern due to factors like availability of water. As dams have come up on rivers in Pakistan, water flowing to the Great Rann of Kutch from across the border has stopped, he says. This forces nesting flamingoes to abandon their nests and head to where there is water, even if its in relatively alien territory. The nesting pattern of flamingoes in the Little Rann of Kutch shows that flamingoes are looking for alternative sites for breeding, he says.

Singh admits that changes in nesting patterns and in the intensity of breeding have not been studied very deeply. If, for example, there is little nesting in known sites, where did the birds nest? This, Singh says, needs to be found out. Also, little work has been done to find the migration route of the Flamingoes. The process of ringing was last done some time in the early 1970s.