Bird Watchers Sight More European Rollers This Season Than Before In Karnataka
Bird watchers have reported more European Roller sightings across Karnataka this season, including Bandipur, Gudekote and Udupi, prompting calls for research into possible changes in migration patterns.
Plenty of migratory birds cross various Indian States during their migration from one part to another annually and among them are European Rollers wherein bird watchers’ have sighted European Roller (Coracias Garrulus), long distance migratory birds at various locations in Karnataka this season including Bandipur Tiger Reserve, down south, of Chamarajanagar district, Gudekote Bear Sanctuary of Vijayanagar district and a couple of them in Udupi district.
While some bird watchers such as a naturalist Sreekanta attribute their sightings at various locations to climate change, wind pattern, food availability among other reasons leading to a change in migratory routes but a senior ornithologist Subramanya said “It is a usual phenomenon (migration of European Rollers) going on for centuries. Nowadays, the number of bird watchers has gone up and these birds have caught their attention.”
“It is good to see these beautiful birds in these parts. Probably the number of European Rollers migrating through the region might also have gone up for bird watchers to get their sightings at various places,” said the ornithologist.
These birds migrate about 10,000 kms each way between breeding grounds in Europe and Central Asia and its winter breeding grounds in sub-Saharan and southern Africa. These birds normally cross Gujarat, Rajasthan and Western Maharashtra in the country to reach their destinations from one part to another but this year bird watchers have come across more sightings of European Rollers at various places in Karnataka, said naturalist Sreekanta, a passionate bird watcher. He came across European Rollers in Bandipur Tiger Reserve during his regular bird watching on Saturday.
He told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday “I came across a European Roller perched on an electric wire along with other birds at Jakkahalli part of Tiger Reserve’s buffer zone for the first time in my 17 years of bird watching. The difference in colour drew my attention to the bird (European Roller) and I called my fellow bird watchers -Girish, Yogi, Dharmendra, Manju to snap the bird.”
“We came across two individual birds on Saturday and four of them on Sunday in close quarters,” said Sreekanta sharing his experience and attributed the possible change in the migratory path of European Rollers to climate change, wind pattern, food availability among other reasons. However, Sreekantha stressed on a study to know the exact cause of change in migratory path of European Rollers.
As far as sightings of European Rollers in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Sreekanta said “Long back, European Rollers were sighted in Bandipur sharing borders with Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu. This season, he said, European Roller was sighted at Hesaraghatta Lake of Bengaluru city and in the past in Bidar and Gadag districts in north Karnataka. “Sightings of European Rollers at various locations in Karnataka have been extremely rare,” he said.
