WMBD is observed on May 9 every year. The theme for this year is “Birds Connect Our World”. This day aims to raise awareness about the need to conserve the migratory birds. We as global citizens need to know the importance of such day and try to restore the ecological connectivity so as to show our support to these migratory birds.

Migratory birds connect us to all the habitats as they are found everywhere. They are found in forests, mountains, deserts, wetlands, parks, cities,…. These birds are facing a threat due to our activities. They are losing their habitat due to climate change. We need to take measures to protect them and their habitats.

Do you know how far these birds fly?

You will be amazed to know the fact that these migratory birds fly for nearly 100s and 1000s of km. They search for their suitable habitat for feeding and breeding their young ones. When these birds find that it is not suitable for them to stay on, they fly to another region where the ecological condition is favorable.

The next question that might arise is that do all these birds follow the same pattern during migration. No, there are many patterns. Some migrate horizontally while others migrate vertically. Some of these birds breed in south while a few breed in north. Some fly to lowlands while a few go to the mountains. But all of these birds can fly fast for long distances.

Can you imagine a bird flying upto 16,000 km twice a year??!!!

Yes, Red Know travels the longest during the migration.

Have you wondered about the threats to these birds?

As you all know that plastic pollution is a serious threat to these birds. There is an alarming rise in the number of deaths of these birds due to the intake of plastics. Plastics are not our best friend. It is neither good to human health nor for the birds and animals. Let’s take a pledge on this day to reduce and refuse single-use plastics.

As of late you might seen in the news that the number of migratory birds have increased tremendously in Mumbai due to the lockdown. The reason behind this is that the traffic, crowd and pollution have considerably reduced in this pandemic situation.

Photo source:

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/this-flamingo-season-the-migratory-birds-have-not-returned-to-sewri-jetty-5064439/

https://www.cms.int/en/news/world-migratory-bird-day-2019-protect-birds-be-solution-plastic-pollution

https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/