ALAPPUZHA: Bird monitoring cell at Thattekkad plans to involve more voluntary organisations to ring the migratory birds and track their trajectory. An official said ringing was inevitable in the post-bird flu scenario in the state. An orientation class for the voluntary groups and dedicated bird watchers was held at bird sanctuary here the other day. “A proposal is with the government and the discussion in this regard is on the anvil," M.P. Sanjayan, assistant wildlife warden, who is also part of the cell, told DC.
"The metal ring attached to bird’s body will have information including its species, weight, length and location. Most of the migratory birds often take different routes from their natural trajectory while crossing frontiers. So, if they change the direction, it can be easily identified once they land in resting places." Mapping their route, he says, is a tough and expensive task. Since it’s an international affair, there should be government to government communication. "Apart from this, the field of studies on the migratory birds has not been expanded across the world. So, we are trying to do with the limited information," he said.
"If birds get ringed, we could easily identify the frontiers the birds cross through during its seasonal flights. As the chip based monitoring is highly expensive and technologically complicated, we chose the ringing method. It could be implemented soon if the government shows green signal." Currently, as per the official, the cell is carrying out periodic sampling in the four top migratory bird concentration districts of Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kottayam.
The primary intention is to get the information to the right person if any unnatural death of migratory birds or other farm birds came to notice. "The cell has initiated to make people in our network aware of doing pathological analysis with the help of officials from animal husbandry department. The cell will coordinate the various departments including social forestry through online and social networking groups."
