Migratory Birds At Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh

majestic Shivalik range surrounded by lush greenery and thousands of native & migratory birds and wild animals this is what forms the divine landscape of the Sukhna Lake, the most popular tourist attraction of Chandigarh. Recently database information system about all birds of the world, updated on 12.12.2016 containing over 18,228,859, records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. This information has been up dated by Denis Lepage a hosted by Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian co-partner of Bird-life International. Avibase has been a work in progress since 1992 and he has facilitated now as a service to the bird-watching and scientific community. Migratory birds travelled from 2000 km to enjoy the milder coastal climate from October end to March Month in City Beautiful. Most of them come from Siberia, Afghanistan, Tibet, Europe, Magnolia and China etc. to northern wintering grounds. The body temperature of of birds is about 38-44' C is higher than that of most of mammals. It makes little material difference to them whether the surrounding temperature is over 60'c on the burning desert or below 40'C below zero in the icy frozen north. But due to deficiency of food they have to migrate. Like-wise human also migrate for better job opportunity, food scarcity or difficult weather. When geese fly together, each goose provides additional lift and reduces air resistance for the goose flying behind it. By flying together in a v-formation, flock can fly about 70% farther with the same amount of energy. When a goose drops out of the v-formation it quickly discovers that it requires a great deal more effort and energy to fly. Geese rotate leadership. While the goose flying in the front runner of the formation has to expend the most energy as it is the first to break up the flow of air for providing additional lift and when the lead goose gets tired, it drops out of the front position and moves to the rear of the formation, where the resistance is lightest. They keep on changing the leadership many times while flying. Geese honk frequently make loud honking sounds as they fly together just to communicate with each other. Geese help each other, when one goose becomes ill, is shot or injured, they used to drops out of the formation, two other geese will help and remain with the weakened goose and stay with it till injured is able to fly or dies. The eyes of the bird surpass all other creature. In a fraction of time the eye of bird can change itself from telescope to microscope. Tastes are comparatively poor while the smell is practically absent. Artctic Tern travels from North Pole to South Pole covering the whole world 17,000 KM and return back. The average cruising speed of ducks and geese is from 65 to 80 KM per hr. Birds flying day or night is 6 hr. to 11 hrs with the help (navigation) from Sun or stars. Birds can use Earth's magnetic field as compass, but they have also ability to use magnetism as their map and detect variations in the earth's magnetic field. Christopher Intagliata reports normally birds follow the advice generally given to pilots -- "fly low and slow." Normal speeds are in the 20-to-30-mph range, but an eider duck having the fastest speed of about 47 mph. But during chase the speed of the bird increases up to 60 mph or even faster. The speed of Peregrine Falcon has been reported up to 200 mph and normally it can fly up to 100 mph. The size of a bird hardly matters. Hummingbirds and geese can fly at the same speed. Mostly birds fly below 500 feet but during migration they can go higher 10,000 feet to 20,000 feet. Whooper Swans hold the altitude record of 29,000 feet. Rollercoaster ride: Scientists studies a flock of bar-headed geese and discovered that they adjust the altitude of their flight to conserve energy while migrating from Mongolia to India. Scientists have found that migrating birds can fly for 200 days straight, eating and sleeping while soaring through the sky. The species the researchers studied is the Alpine swift, a swallow-like bird found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Researchers have discovered that birds can sleep in flight without colliding with obstacles or falling from the sky. Myoglobin contains a heme (prosthetic) group which is responsible for its main function (carrying of oxygen molecules to muscle tissues). Myoglobin can exist in the oxygen free form, deoxymyoglobin, or in a form, in which the oxygenmolecule is bound, called oxymyoglobin. The Migratory Birds flock towards City Beautiful in winter Season as follows:
1. The Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus)
2. The Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina)
3. The Common pochard (Aythya farina)i
4. The Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula)
5. The Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea),
6. The northern shoveler or northern shoveller ( Anas clypeata).
7. The Pintail or northern pintail (Anas acuta)
8. The Gadwall (Anas strepera).
9. The Eurasian wigeon (Anas Penelope).
10. The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).
11. The Eurasian teal or common teal (Anas crecca).
12. The Greylag goose (Anser anser).
13. The Cotton pygmy goose or cotton teal (Nettapus coromandelianus)
14. The Knob-billed duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos),
15. The Lesser whistling duck (Dendrocygna javanica).
16. The brown-headed gull (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus)
17. The Marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
18. The Grey heron (Ardea cinerea).
19. The Stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis).
20. The Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo).
21. The Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta).
22. The Ferruginous pochard (Aythya nyroca).
23. The ruff (Philomachus pugnax).The female called Reeve.
24. The Oriental darter or Indian darter (Anhinga melanogaster) i

Bird Watching At Sukhna Lake-:

Sukhna wetland is an excellent habitat for the avian and aquatic birds. of birds present in and around the lake round the year. Birds at the lake can be witnessed in large number from October-March, when a variety of Migratory birds joins the resident birds. Department of Forest gives the on-lookers a chance to have a close look to these migratory species and provides following facilities for the birders at regulatory end of the Sukhna Lake which is now rowing-free area and due to less rainfall this year, a shallow water has attracted so many new species which visited after a long time.
• Spotting Scopes
• Binoculars
• Field Guides for Bird Identification
• Self Explanatory Illustrative Boards about birds, their habitat, Migration etc. Timings:-

From October to March (Tentative)
7:00 am to 9:30 am and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm

Birding Tips:-

 You need a felid guide.
 A Binocular/Camera with monopod/tripod.
 Checklist of Birds in your area.
 Learn about the habitat of bird.
 Join a group of other Birders (Chandigarh Bird Club) or page “ Migratory Birds at Sukhna Lake” and Share knowledge
 Try a birding trip or tour with proper dress code (camouflaged)
 Read about Birds.
 Record your Bird sightings.
 Be kind to birds. We do not advocate, encourage and appreciate to feed the birds as by doing so they become “humanized” which is against the law to keep the wild birds without valid permission and appropriate training. Birds are naturally frightened of human. But do provide water during hot summers outside your house. Kulbhushan Kanwar
[email protected]
098159-35035