KOCHI: Of the four flamingos that arrived on the wetlands near the Kumbalangi-Kandakadavu road, only three will be flying back home at the end of the migration season. In a tragic incident, one of the birds broke its wing after hitting a nylon rope fencing around a shrimp tank. According to Dhanik Lal, range officer, Kodanad forest range office, the injury sustained by the bird is severe. “According to the veterinarians of the department, the injury is nearly a week old. The doctors said even if the bone sets since the infection has gone deep the bird won’t be able to fly,” said the range officer. 

“The bird will be shifted to the Veterinary Hospital at Mannuthy in Thrissur on Tuesday. The hospital is best suited for the care of the bird since it can’t be released back into the wild,” he added. According to him, flamingos fly long stretches at a time. “It won’t be able to keep up with its flock and would eventually succumb to injury,” said the range officer. He said the nylon rope had sliced through the wing and had broken a fragile bone. According to Robin N X, a bird watcher, the discarded fishing nets and the nylon ropes around the shrimp ponds pose a serious threat to not only migratory birds but also the native ones. “The shrimp farmers fence the ponds to prevent the birds from getting to the fish and the shrimps. But they invariably end up injuring birds,” he said.

“In the case of the flamingo, it must have flown into the rope unknowingly. The presence of the mobile towers all around the wetlands where these migratory birds arrive too doesn’t help,” said Robin. According to him, the electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone towers affects the birds. “When birds are exposed to weak electromagnetic fields, they get disoriented and fly in all directions, which harm their natural navigational abilities. The same thing might have happened at Kumbalangi,” he said.“This is not the first instance that the members of Nature Club Kumbalangi have come to the rescue of a migratory bird,” said Robin. In the past few months, the members have rescued a pelican and an ibis, he said. According to him, since the wetlands here are a haven for the migratory birds, steps need to be taken to make them avian-friendly.