Rawal Lake visitors:
Migratory birds dwindling
Jamal Shahid
A migratory common Teal at Rawal Lake
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The number of migratory birds visiting the capital`s Rawal Lake every
winter is dwindling because of habitat destruction and indiscriminate
hunting.
“They start arriving in October and November and stay till March.
Habitat destruction, water quality, less food, forest decline and
indiscriminate hunting are contributing to the decreasing trend,”
Pakistan Wetlands Program wetlands biologist Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry said
The Indus Flyway is one of the seven routes around the globe birds
use to escape severe weather conditions, and feed and breed in some
cases. Migratory birds escape harsh cold in Russia and China and travel
more than 4,500 kilometres to enter Pakistan from the north and
following the mighty Indus River all the way down to the south, stopping
at more than 300 water bodies and wetlands dotting the land.
Cranes, ducks-mallards, common pochards, common teal, northern
pintail, northern shoveler, cormorant, snipes, stints, plovers, gulls
and score of other birds fly to Pakistan every winter.
“And it`s not just the Rawal Lake where excessive fishing and
construction disturbances have degenerated natural environment. Lesser
birds have been coming into Pakistan`s most frequented wetlands,
particularly in Punjab,” he lamented. “The white-headed duck that
visited Khabekki Lake in the internationally-recognized Ochali wetlands
near the Salt Range was last spotted in 2006.”
Chaudhry recorded a few greater flamingos and white eyed pochards but
sociable plovers had been missing in this season. A pleasant surprise
for the wetlands team last winter was the arrival of great white-fronted
geese in the Rawal Lake. They counted 100 great white-fronted geese.
“The geese were last recorded in 1968,” said Chaudhry, hoping to picture
them this winter before the water birds head back to native habitat.
“We have not spotted them yet, but winter is still not over,” he
said.
But hunting around the Rawal Lake is a bigger concern for him. “There
have been cases of illegal hunting and necessary action was taken in
collaboration with the local authorities,” he said. According to an
official in the Capital Development Authority`s Environment Wing,
hunting was strictly prohibited. “But there are cases every winter when
the migratory birds around the lake are hunted, mostly before the
sunrise.”
An official of the Environment Ministry also conceded that hunting
parties did catch a bird or two, although it was not allowed.
The Dawn
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