Migratory birds from Siberia, Australia and Eurasia arrive at Santragachi Jheel

The Santragachi jheel has been cleaned of water hyacinth and other major pollutants and, as a result, hundreds of migratory birds have begun to arrive from faraway places like Siberia, Australia and Eurasia for their regular "winter break".
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 December 2016.

Observers feel that this year, the visitors have touched down earlier than other years - thanks to a thorough clean-up of the 13,75,000-sq ft water body which is almost adjacent to the Santragachi railway station. The cleaning move was prompted by a Green Tribunal order that had been passed at the beginning of the year. It had ordered the Howrah Municipal Corporation and the state forest department to keep the jheel clean through the year.
The regular visitors are usually the lesser whistling duck (south east Asia), common teal (Eurasia), baikal teal (Russia) and cotton pygmy goose (south east asia).
This year, new arrivals include rare species of northern pintail (Europe and North America), gadwal (Europe, Eurasia and North America) and Firruginous pochard (Eurasia).
Bird watchers and photographers are making a beeline for Santragachi and the annual bird counting program would be held on January 7 and 8.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org
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