Over ten thousand migratory birds have arrived across the water bed and green covers of Giridih district and suburban areas. Every year, with the onset of winter season, varieties of foreign birds arrive across normal wetlands, green covers and waterbeds of Giridih and neighboring regions.
The hot tourist spots, like Khandoli, Usri Fall and the wetlands across the Parashnath shrine, besides other areas of Giridih district and portions of Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Bokaro and Deoghar turns to be the major attraction for myriads of tourists as well as picnickers coming from across Jharkhand and neighboring states like: West Bengal, Odisa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and others.
Every year during the winter season, migratory birds from across the parts of Europe and Asia arrive at Khandoli Dam, about 6-7 kilometers from the district headquarter at Giridih. Major chunk of these birds mostly arrive from Western Siberia, Mangolia, China, Myanmar and other places during the months of November – December. They often find their shelter across the wetland of these places and usually stay here till the end of March.
Divisional Forest Officer, Giridih (West), Perwesh Agarwal, said, “Altogether 6 – 8 kinds of migratory birds and waterfowls, including foreign and residential birds, often arrive in these areas every year during the months of November to March. Flying a distance of thousands of kilometers every year, they usually come from as far as Africa, Europe, Siberia, Mangolia and other parts of the globe. Bar-headed goose, Greylag Goose, Red Crested Pochard, Gadwall, Coot and Bramhani are among other foreign species of that often arrive during the winter season and take shelter for 3-4 months across the green covers, waterbeds and small hills and hillocks of the Giridih district and suburban region”.
Some residential and local birds include Spotwill, Sarus crane, Painted Stork, Peacock, White Ibis, Open billed stork, White necked stork, Pheasant tailed jacana, Bronze winged Jacana, Purple moorhen, Indian roller, Bee eater and others. They mostly appear during the second or third week of November and make their regular visit till the last week of March or the first week of April every year.
“As we have learned, Khandoli and surrounding areas offer eco-friendly and comfortable climatic conditions that are suitable for reproduction and breeding for these birds. After their two months of regular wandering in this locality, they start breeding for the next two months. But as soon as they finish breeding, they start disappearing by the last week of March”, said senior journalist, Rakesh Sinha.
In a question asked by the Pioneer, he said, “During our extensive discussions with few renowned bird watchers and environmentalists, we learnt that besides various other reasons, some particular species of migratory birds like Bramhani and Bar headed Goose follow the footprint of their ancestors to choose Khanodli as safe passage for feeding and breeding during this season”.
“Nothing much can be ascertained unless we get concrete ideas regarding the exact number of such birds arriving at Khandoli, but as per our information just 3-4 species of these migratory birds, particularly Bar-headed goose, Bramhani and Coot may go high in comparison to last year. As of now at least 3000 - 3500 such birds have already arrived from Siberia and other areas so far”, a forest officer said adding that at least 10-11 thousand foreign birds are estimated to have arrived this season in Giridih and adjacent areas.
