Winged visitors have a new destination — Delhi

The answer could have been the former till a couple of years ago, but with more than 5,000 migratory birds visiting a tiny but carefully managed water body in the Capital now, the logical answer should be Delhi.

Giving a miss to Bharatpur, migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia, which usually moved towards the Rajasthan bird sanctuary in the winter, have made their way to the Yamuna Biodiversity Park near Wazirabad — a little over two hectares by the Yamuna — this time, point out experts. Birds like the Red Crested Pochard have visited the park — a DDA project with the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE) — in hundreds.

The biodiversity park, which has a combination of wetlands and the vegetation migratory birds feed on, has had a burgeoning number of winged visitors since Bharatpur started losing its water around two years ago. “Till 2004, we used to have around 3,500 migratory birds visiting us in winter. Their numbers have been increasing every year now. This year, more than 5,500 birds have come, which establishes the park as a sustainable habitat for them,” says Faiyaz Khudsar, a biologist at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park. Prominent among the visitors are the Red Crested Pochard, Pintails and Cormorants.

“I can say with confidence that Delhi has received more birds than Bharatpur has this year. The birds move towards areas where they get water and food. This year, they have gone to Delhi and Agra’s Sur Sarovar sanctuary. Bharatpur has seen at least a 50 per cent drop in the number of its winged visitors. There has also been a drop in the bird-watching activity this year. There are only about 150 species which include resident birds,” says Tirath Singh, a birdwatcher who runs the popular, Birder’s Inn, in Bharatpur. “I visited Delhi and in fact am recommending my friends to go there,” he adds.