In a Eureka moment for ornithologists and scientists, a migratory Black-tailed Godwit named Bala, which was tagged with a GPS device in Mumbai, has been tracked to Siberia.
The bird has been named Bala after renowned researcher Dr D Balachandran.
Tagged with a GPS device in Mumbai in March, the bird has been tracked to South-Western Siberia in June, according to the Bombay Natural History Society.
Bala took just five days to return to Mumbai and this proves once again the birds’ typical habit of site fidelity, meaning returning to the same site that they are used to.
Bala now stays at the Bhandup Pumping Station in the Central line suburbs of Mumbai.
“Migratory birds are undeclared brand ambassadors of the environment and they convey the message of prevailing biodiversity in the areas that they land,” said B N Kumar, Director, NatConnect Foundation.
“It is therefore important to conserve their destinations, namely the wetlands in Mumbai Metropolitan Region,” said Kumar who has been campaigning to save Belpada, Bhendkhal, Panje, DPS, NRI and TS Chanakya wetlands of Navi Mumbai.
The entire flight pattern of Bala, the bird, is being studied now and BNHS will come out with a full report shortly, said the organisation's deputy director Dr Rahul Khot.
Dr Balachandran is a senior scientist with over four decades of study at various destinations such as Chilka in Odisha and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.
BNHS has deployed six GPS/GSM tags on three greater and three lesser flamingos from January to April 2022 To understand the flamingo migration. All the six birds have landed in Gujarat and are out of the telecom signal range.
BNHS has been conducting the long-term ecological monitoring of migratory birds visiting Thane Creek since 2017. To understand wintering birds' habitat use and migration patterns, the researchers deployed bird rings and colour flags at sites around Thane Creek. So far, around 21,000 birds have been ringed and flagged, and BNHS has been able to get resights within India and from other countries.