Chirpy immigrants to Pakistan decreasing...

Millions of migratory birds head towards Pakistan from Europe and Central Asian to escape winter, said wildlife experts. However, they warned that the number of migratory birds, and local birds, found in the city and surrounding areas had decreased because of tree cutting, pollution and massive constructions.

Experts said that every year birds from Europe and Central Asian states came to the Pakistani wetlands for winter. They said that migratory birds flew over Karakorum, Suleiman Ranges and Hindukush along the Indus River, adding that the route was famously known as flyway 4 because of the number of birds using it (there are seven flyways worldwide). They said the route was commonly called the Indus flyway.

Migratory birds start reaching Pakistan as winter approaches and keep migrating from September to February and fly back in March, said the experts. They said that an important reason for birds migrating to other regions was food, saying that it was not available in indigenous habitats during winter. They added that other factors included temperature changes and reduced hours of daylight.

However, the experts said the loss of natural habitat was a major reason for the decrease in migratory birds visiting Pakistan. They said that a 70 percent decline had been observed in the migratory birds’ population in Punjab in recent years. They added that a number of bird species had vanished from Lahore and adjacent areas because of tree cutting, pollution and dust. They said, “Birds like parrots, magpies, drongoes, pigeons and doves can rarely be seen in Lahore or surrounding areas.”

The excessive plantation of decorative and ornamental plants has damaged the natural habitat of bird because they cannot find food on ornamental plants, said the experts. They said that trees such as acacia, sisso, mulberry and poplar, on which birds feed, were cut down in large numbers and made native birds’ lives difficult.

An article by Shoaib Ahmed