Okhla dries up for repairs, birds take leave

Noida/New Delhi: The waterbirds are taking flight from Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS) as the wetland has been completely dried out for repair work at the Okhla barrage gates. According to environmentalists and bird watchers, only a few migratory birds are left now as the resident waterbirds suffer from a lack of shelter and food. Some have left the site, with the remaining ones trying to survive on or along the small ditches.
The four-kilometre OBS at the entrance of Noida has been a haven for birds species of thorny, scrub, grassland and wetland varieties. The UP government notified it as a sanctuary in 1990, and it is now one of the 466 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in India. OBS reports more than 340 bird species; 50% are migratory birds, and 36% resident. Others are vagrant sightings or of unknown category. The site falls under the Central Asian Flyway, so migratory species arrive here for a temporary stay.
T K Roy, ecologist and conservationist, said that the water birds at the site are curently struggling for food and shelter. “Their expected summer breeding may be hampered if the wetland remains dry for longer. We have found that some water birds like little cormorants, Indian cormorants, oriental darters and little grebes shifted from OBS already,” he said. According to bird watchers, the resident bird species like Indian spot-billed ducks, little egrets, Indian pond ferons, common moorhens, purple swamphens, white-breasted waterhens, grey herons, purple herons, blackwinged stilts, red-wattled lapwings, blackcrowned night herons and cattle egrets could still be found in the sanctuary in small numbers. But feral dogs, which hasve a predatory appraoch towards birds, have been found moving on the dried wetland.
Upendra Singh, executive engineer, barrage maintenance, mechanical division, said that the irrigation department received permission from the government for the barrage repair works. “The repair works started on April 25 and will continue till May 8. These are necessary as we check the pillars to see if they are affected due to erosion, rusting or chemicals in the water. The exercise is important before the rainy season and subsequent flooding. We had a complete closure for repair works in 2019, too. While the minor repair works continue every year, this kind of closure is happening after 2019,” he said.