World Migratory Bird Day..Why the visit of migratory birds decreased worldwide ?

                                              

The visit of migratory birds has decreased worldwide! It is true, but before talking about that we need to know why do birds migrate? Birds migrate to move from areas of decreasing resources i.e. food and nesting locations, to the areas of high or increasing resources. According to the distance covered in migration the birds are Permanent Residents, Short-distance migrants, Medium-distance migrants and Long-distance Migrants. Many articles and news in the media tells us that the migratory birds has decreased. Well what is the reason? The reason is us, our greeds and over-exploitation of resources. The migratory birds don’t migrate anymore and that is because of many reasons that include:

·         The loss of habitats in their migratory route has taken away the source of fuel on the flyway.

·         Climate change patterns and global warming leads for the change in route of migratory birds, shortening their route or cancelling the journey at all.

·         Mild winters help resident birds to survive that leads to competiton and shortage of food and nesting locations for migratory birds.

·         Climate change leads to food shortages because vegetation bloom, insect population rise and bird hatchings are not in line of occurrence due to climate change patterns.

·         Poorly co-ordinated conservation measures and inadequate protection.

A migratory bird relies on different geographical locations in their migration routes for their fuel, shelter and nesting, and the protecting their breeding areas is not enough because any broken link in the chain will affect the entire population.

The journeys undertaken by these birds are remarkable, like Sooty Shearwater flies 64,000 kilometres from the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas to the Arctic.

One study by CEED found that out of 1,451 migratory bird species, 1,324 had inadequate protection for at least one part of their migration pathway. 18 species had no protection in their breeding areas and 2 species had no protection at all along their whole route.

Less than 3% of the species listed as threatened in IUCN Red List have sufficient protected areas. Red-spectacled Amazon is a migratory parrot of Brazil and is threatened by habitat loss still less than 4% of its range is protected, and almost none of its seasonal breeding areas in southern Brazil have been covered. There are many records of decrease in number of migratory birds in India, China and Pakistan.

For the protection of migratory birds all the nations have to trake collaborative steps because steps taken in one nation cannot protect any migratory bird along its range. Like Germany has protected 98% of the migratory species that pass its borders but less than 13 % of its species are protected at a global range.

For the awareness among public about the decrease in migratory birds worldwide, World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated on May 11-12 every year since 2006, and it was created by US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.