Migrant Watch invites bird watchers join in project

The Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL), which launched `Migrant Watch' (MW) program to create awareness about migrant bird species, yesterday, invited the public to join its project to help get more data about presence of migrants in their area.

Dr. Sarath Kotagama said a similar research to the Migrant Watch is being continued in India, to find out and compare the data of the day's migrant movements between these countries.

Dr. Kotagama, who conducted a lecture, 'Bird Migration and Bundala Birds' at the Department of Zoology, Colombo University, yesterday said participation in the MW was simple and one needs not be an expert birder to get involved.

" Those who would like to participate has only to watch birds in as many places as possible - own home gardens, school premises, workplaces, lakesides, paddy fields -anywhere that is frequented by birds. They can make a list of migrant birds that they can identify in a given location.

They can either email it to [email protected] or post to FOGSL, Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, Colombo 3", he said.

Last week thousands of Dragonflies were observed on the west coast near Colombo moving toward South. There is a known phenomena of Dragonfly migrating from India to Africa through the Maldives which is tagged as the world's longest migration by an insect.

It is believed that the movements seen last week is related to this Dragonfly Migration as the days they were spotted in Sri Lanka perfectly match with the dates they are usually seen in the Maldives.

"The MW aims at observing this phenomena too", he said.Being located at the southernmost tip of the Indian Subcontinent, Sri Lanka has become the final destination for many migrant birds, who are specially travelling in the Central Asian Flyway covering a large area from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean.

Of the 492 bird species recorded in Sri Lanka, about 169 or 36 per cent of total birds are migratory. Few of these migrants are sharing our own home gardens or the village tanks or wetlands during their temporary stay, but we often overlook these fascinating visitors that can be seen even from our doorstep. Some of these common migrants include blue-tailed Bee-eater, Brown Flycatcher, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Forest Wagtail and Indian Pitta."The bird migration season has started.

Every year thousands of migrant birds visit Sri Lanka, but do we know migrants are around us..? To promote observation of migrants and their protection, the FOGSL has launched the MW", he said." Some of these migrants also need additional help for survival.

Avichchiya or Indian Pitta which is a bulky bird, often been found exhausted in home gardens.

Many of them have been rescued by bird enthusiasts over last few years. Indian Pittas are entering to Sri Lanka through this period of time too, so if you find exhausted birds, you can help them by protecting from predators and provide shelter until they recover.

Sri Lankans are famous for their hospitality and make the public vigilant on these troubled migrants too is another objective of the MW", Dr. Kotagama said.

According to Dr. Kotagama, the list in minimum should include the date, location, birds seen or heard and the name and contact details of the observer.

Participants can also enter data directly to http://www.worldbirds.org/srilanka which is part of the international network of databases used to analyze status of world's birds.

S.S