Haridwar (Uttarakhand):With a harsh winter setting in over the North Pole, migratory birds from Russia have started flocking in to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, thousands of miles away from their original habitat. However, the exotic fowls flying in from far-off lands are a little less in number than recorded in previous years and their arrival, too, was delayed by at least 3 weeks, said a globally renowned ornithologist.
With a biting chil taking North India under its grip slowly but steadily, migratory birds are starting to nest in Haridwar after a long flight, quite literally across the seven seas. The exotic fowls can be seen flocking at various ghats of Haridwar, a holy city popular with pilgrims and tourists alike.
At this time every year, lakhs of pilgrims and tourists from across India and overseas arrive in the holy cty for a 'darshan' of 'Maa Ganga'. Along with devotees and visitors, birdwatchers, too, arrive at the temple town in numbers to watch the migratory birds nesting in the midst. The people of Haridwar, too, keenly await the arrival of the exotic birds at this time every year.
However, the ongoing armed conflict with Russia has not only seen people in the war-ravaged country scrambling to nearest bomb shelters but also delayed the arrival of the migratory birds.
On the relatively fewer numbers of migratory birds arriving from polar countries this year, Dinesh Bhatt, a globally renowned ornithologist from the Gurukul Kangri University, told ANI, "The air in Russia and its midst has been rendered extremely toxic from the shelling and bombing in the ongoing conflict of Ukraine. Radiation levels have also gone up, making the air extremely hazardous for the migratory birds. Hence, relatively fewer number of birds took the long flight from their orginal habitat to Hardiwar this year."