“Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies.” That could be a line from Stevie Surprise’s “I Simply Referred to as To Say I Love You”, a music that has stood the shifting fads of time. And that line refers to an avian sample that has continued by way of time. It hints at birds migrating from the north, escaping its inclement winter to sojourn within the south. Whereas the escape will proceed winter after winter, the sojourn can bear modifications of tackle, relying on native elements, anthropogenic and climatic. 

Welcome to the alternatives made by migratory birds: the how and why of it. 

Dr. T. Badri Narayanan is an ophthalmologist with a watch for birds, a watch sharpened with some extent of formal coaching (a correspondence course from Bombay Pure Historical past Society and an ornithology course provided by NPTEL in the course of the pandemic) however largely on account of time spent on the sphere. He illustrates the doable causes of change in fowl migration together with his observations of the Frequent pochard within the Chennai Metropolitan Space and his common stomping floor, Madurai. 

Dr. Narayanan notes that the migratory Frequent pochard is sighted sporadically within the Chennai Metropolitan Space which incorporates patches of Kancheepuram and Chengalpet. Additionally it is documented every now and then in different components of southern Tamil Nadu. He recollects sightings of Frequent pochard flocks round 15 years in the past at Aarpakkam tank close to Kancheepuram in addition to Ponnur lake, additionally set in the identical geography. Through the 2025-26 migratory season, the Frequent pochard confirmed up as a flock at Amoor lake, close to Sirudhavur in Chengalpet district, not too removed from Chennai. 

In distinction, birders in Madurai are being stood up by this fowl. For anybody who has birded within the Nineteen Eighties and 90s, this may very well be startling as Madurai was a sure-fire vacation spot on this fowl’s winter itinerary. Dr. Badri Narayanan notes {that a} species can change its wintering tackle whether it is up in opposition to habitat degradation. The fact in Madurai doesn’t level in that course, no less than not on the floor, and he seems to be elsewhere for a doable trigger.

He observes that globally, the Frequent pochard’s numbers are dwindling and the species has moved from “Least Concern” to “Close to Threatened”, and due to this fact, fewer birds migrate deep into peninsular India. The suggestion is that they may very well be fortunately “hot-desked” with sufficient “seats” supplied for them within the wetlands of central and northern India. 

A migratory fowl may change its wintering tackle for one or a mixture of those causes. One, habitat destruction. Two, meals shortage. Three, climatic modifications. 4, inhabitants decline lowering migratory unfold (the Frequent pochard’s state of affairs in Madurai in all probability checks this field). 5, availability of appropriate habitats earlier on of their migratory route. Dr. Badri Narayanan notes {that a} trigger could be recognized solely with enough knowledge gathered over a protracted time frame with observations, round 10 years or extra. He factors out that citizen-science platforms resembling eBird could be supply for that form of knowledge.