Around 80K ‘Winged’ visitors seen at Hari Ke Pattan Wetland

Around 80K ‘Winged’ visitors seen at Hari Ke Pattan Wetland

HARISH MONGA

Ferozepur, January 20, 22024:  For the safety of foreign birds and to avoid disturbing them in any way by the visitors, the festival at the confluence of Sutlej Beas River on Jan 20 and 21 has been cancelled at Hari Ke Pattan Wetland. There are no major disturbances around the wetlands due to the decline of visitors because of the onset of winter and no visibility of the sun for the past ten days in this part of the country.  However, the officials have claimed around 80,000 ‘Winged Visitors’ seen at HariKe Pattan Wetland.

Harike is a rare biodiversity hotspot on the Ferozepur-Tarn Taran border that attracts thousands of birds from abroad and other Indian states. The wetland is located at the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers, with the sanctuary at the spot where the Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions of Punjab meet. The wildlife sanctuary is spread over 86 square km, including 41 square km of Harike wetland, which is home to scores of bird species visiting from as far as the Arctic and Siberia.  However, as thousands of migratory birds are making a beeline to Harike wetland and wildlife sanctuary, rampant encroachments and poaching of fish are posing a serious threat to the wildlife in the key biodiversity hotspot of Punjab.

For the past several years, as soon as the winter season arrives in different countries including Europe, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Russia, Siberia and the Middle East, millions of birds from there migrate to India. About one lakh of these birds stop at Harike Pattan and a large number of birds spend around six months in wetlands built in other parts of the country. These birds do not have a problem eating here because of the sufficient fish in the beautiful reservoir at the confluence of the Sutlej-Beas River at Harike Pattan. Due to this, these birds travel thousands of kilometres to reach here every year.

Added here, every year from the third week of November, these foreign birds start arriving at Hari Ke Pattan, but sometimes due to early cold in those countries, these birds sometimes arrive at Hari Ke Pattan, at the end of October or the first week of November. Due to this till now around 80 to 90,000 birds have camped here in Bird Century and all these birds will return to their countries after March. Birds of many species including Gray Lag Geese, Indian River Tern, Common Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, and Tufted Duck, arrive here every year.

Bird Century officials said that for the protection of these birds, special guards have been deployed on the banks of the river, while the people of the surrounding lands have also been asked to guard them so that these birds do not face any kind of problem.