Changes observed during a decade long love affair with Chilika
By Shakti Bishnoi – Photos by AS Bishnoi
For the last one decade, we have been visiting Chilika lake to participate in the annual bird census. As we continue coming back year after year, we can’t help but notice the change in flora and fauna in Chilka lake and its surrounding areas where birds census is conducted. And that tempers the pleasure of being in the beautiful lake with the lovely winged creatures. Our heart is tinged with sadness due to the changes that we witness and goads us to raise awareness. Lest we fail in our duty in helping save a wonderful ecosystem that too thousands of years to get created.
Largest Brackish Water Lake:
Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon of Asia is recognised as one of the most important wetlands in the World and is one of the 42 Ramsar sites in India. Chilika is home to a huge number and species of birds. Visitors are charmed by a spectacular display of myriad hues of colours from over 160 species in the peak season between November and February.
Chilika which is well known for its beauty has nearly a dozen islands, some of them inhabited and a bird sanctuary called Nalabana located inside it. Chilika is nourished by rainfed rivers as well as have openings to the sea so that the there are various salinity levels and different kinds of flora and fauna coexisting in this complex ecosystem. As a result Chilika has a unique biodiversity that supports around 200,000 fishermen living on its banks.
Unfortunately Chilika is steadily losing its rich repertoire of fishes, crabs and other aquatic resources due to large-scale deforestation that has resulted in six new breaches on the 50-km long natural sand embankment. Previously, the lake had two natural mouths at Bali-Harichandi and Arakhakuda which allowed limited volume of saline water into the lake, making it unique and ideal for biodiversity.
Today Chilika lake is facing existential threat because of increasing human interferences, including large-scale cutting down of natural forests that guard the lake against high tidal inundation. Though severe ecological degradation has been observed here over time, not much attention has been given to it at the local, national and international levels. Normally, forest degradation, human interference such as market orientation and changing international scene are portrayed as the main causes for such degradation. However, like many wetland situations all over the world, Chilika lake is also subjected to a multiplicity of pressures and impacts, ranging from local to global in geographical scales, impacting over short to very long periods.
From newbies to becoming like duck in water
Many of us have strong emotional attachment to wetlands: memories of learning to swim in a pond, boating with a loved one on a lake or looking through binoculars at congregations of migratory birds on a cold winter morning. Wetlands are usually associated with happier times in our lives. This is probably what drives us to create artificial ones in our increasingly unfriendly urban habitats.
Beside their obvious recreational and aesthetic value, wetlands are an important life support system for a myriad species including us humans. Peering through their calm surfaces, one understands why life evolved from water. So, when an opportunity presents itself to be part of bird census in Asia’s largest brackish water lake, the result was a foregone conclusion. During our first bird census, we obviously had to be completely focused on acquiring bird identification skills, differentiating between native and migratory birds, understanding their habits, bird counting techniques among other things. There was nervousness as we don’t want to be found lacking in the field. On the other hand, tt was also a huge responsibility. So we tried to memorise names of every winter visitor while remaining awake till 3 am for the next morning coveted mission.
A two hours presentation on migratory birds showed me a mirror in which I saw how humans reacts when they miss a flight due to bad weather, technical failure, natural calamity or pandemic.
I pictured a bird roosting in freezing Siberia, making plans to fly to their winter home in India, as they don’t recognise human created boundaries to be a barrier in their journey. The weather should just be conducive to take off for thousands of kms journey. Global warming because of humans has made the migration a deadly affair for the birds. Arctic tern migrates 9000 kms from pole to pole. bar-tailed godwit flies nonstop 12200kms every year. Demoiselle crane flies over mt. Everest.
We studied all night as it was big responsibility and we didn’t want to go unprepared. Next day I was in Dr Balachandran’ group and my husband went to Ganjam with another experienced group leader. We were absorbing the practical training like sponge and with eyes wide open clicked pictures of beautiful birds in our mind. With Dr Bala, census was so much more than bird count, we got down in the shallow waters of clear Chilka lake after bird count was done and monitored the habitat. Dr Bala’s keen scientific eyes were looking for all the details for the safety of birds. The clear cold and sometimes warm water full of water plants swaying inside brushing against our legs was tickling our nerves, and I giggled with joy. Dr bala has been very kind to everyone he met in the two days event and shared his knowledge joyfully with whoever asked him a question.
The most interesting part of the census was all the teams were supposed to reach their assigned area and at exactly 9 am the birds in sight of your area were listed in a journal with timings. If a school of ducks happens to fly to any area, the team made a note of the number and recorded it in flew in column of the journal. Later at the submission time, the data was tallied and addition and subtraction of listed birds were done for accuracy.
Our census field trip got over by afternoon and we were all sun bathed when we returned in our boats and others in vehicles later in the evening as the sites were far away. Our first year bird census was full of amazement and knowledge of migratory birds. We purchased a book on chilka birds to gain knowledge on the names and their habitat for our next year census.
After 365 days preparation, we migrated like the birds to chilka lake for our second year bird census. This time it felt like home and we reached in the afternoon and organically started the parikrama of Chilka lake near our guest house looking for the migratory birds and resident birds. It was a real treat to our eyes after a yearlong wait. We even got ourselves binoculars and looked forward to the binoculars method of counting flying birds taught to us by Dr Bala the previous year. We knew the drill and went into our respective teams as told.
We started for our bird count the next day, but this time it was special as our knowledge was useful and we could name and count the birds barring few. I saw white bellied sea eagle pair and it was a memory to cherish forever. Amar was team leader for Ganjam and he did justice to his duties.
All went well as planned and we returned home joyfully with a hope of visiting next years to the bird’ paradise.
Another year went by and our daughter was born and we took her along when she was few months short of two years. Dr Bala was cordial and all three of us went in his team. She was observing all the flying, swimming and perching birds on our way to the Nalabana. She spoke only when she was 4 and half years, so it was quiet time for all of us to watch her enjoy the bird count and not disturb the team. When after our day’s hard work we opened our breakfast packets, we started having our veg food and Kanan saw few eggs kept in front of Dr. Bala as his meal. She carefully observed them and Dr bala offered her one egg without knowing we were vegetarians. Kanan took it and kept it in on the ground and sat close to it and kept watching it. Now we all knew what she was waiting for… a chick. We all smiled at her innocence and I picked up Kanan and Kanan picked up the egg. As we were watching the birds, Kanan heard a crackling and turned towards the direction the sound was coming. She saw Dr balachandran( the key figure of BNHS) peeling the eggshell, Kanan smiled and moved towards him to welcome the young chick. He took a bite and a two and kanan looked at the egg in her hands. She handed over the egg to Dr. Bala and came to me. I could understand how she must have felt as her hopes of an egg morphing into a chick was dashed.
The subsequent years were full of wonderful memories as we had Kanan as our new companion for bird census. First we would do our bird census and then move to manglajodi for another day treat to watch the migratory birds in wooden boats. As part of bird census team, we could never go to the Manglajodi area. To meet and greet the Painted snipe in Maglajodi was our annual added mission.
Not all is well with Chilika:
We have seen the landscape of Manglajodi changing over the years. We have witnessed how the fisherman and poachers turned into guides and protectors of the birds they hunted earlier for money. A beautiful mind changed the community. If livelihood is ensured, then most of the poaching areas can be protected with of course criminal punishment for wrongdoers to set an example so that no one repeats poaching of birds.
On our last bird census we noticed that the Odisha forest dept officer was not very cordial with Dr Bala and rest of us. He was trying to be authoritative and there was no room for selfless contributors. Of course it was suffocating to be in the meeting room for briefing but going for bird count next day was liberating. We were doing our assigned area census when we saw a red wattled lapwing hanging upside down in air. When we went closer we saw the cruel side of humans who tied transparent wires to kill the birds in flight and eat it. We rescued it and the bird did not revolt and calmly sat in our hands until we reached back. We borrowed haldi (turmeric) from kitchen and applied it to the wounded wing as all the forest officials were out in the field to complete bird census. It started moving on the banks of lake and looked comfortable.
A decade of bird census has changed us and made us better. Our daughter has grown with the stories of bird migrations, jungle adventures, and butterfly rearing. She is 8 years and enjoyed the childhood we wanted to give her.
We have realised that while we give our entire time and respect to the human guests at home and treating them equivalent to God, we completely forget that there are millions of birds who are also our atithi or guests every year. We completely miss even acknowledging the presence of our non-human guests; the migratory birds, the rivers flowing through to every place, the animals migration, the butterflies migration, the air flowing from one place to the other. The moment we realise this, perhaps we will strive to keep our environment pure to welcome the birds, butterflies, animals, rivers and air, the way we try to clean our house and make it shine when guests visit our home.
Destroying their habitat will in turn destroy the humans as we are part of the same ecosystem. Air, water, earth is a common inheritance. When we pollute the river flowing infront of our city, the air in our place or the soil on which we stand, the pollution impacts other humans and non-human species as well. What we improperly discard passes into our food chain and comes back to hit us.
Threats/Areas of Concern for Chilika
Over the years, the ecosystem of the lake encountered several problems and threats such as:
- Siltation due to littoral drift and sediments from the inland river systems
- Shrinkage of water surface area
- Choking of the inlet channel as well as shifting of the mouth connecting to the sea
- Decrease in salinity and fishery resources
- Proliferation of freshwater invasive species
- An overall loss of biodiversity with decline in productivity adversely affecting the livelihood of the community that depended on it
- Fights between fishermen and non-fishermen communities about fishing rights in the lake and consequent court cases
- The rapid expansion of commercial aquaculture of prawn has contributed significantly to the decline of the lakes fisheries and bird population.
On top of these threats, is poaching. Bird poachers are still active in catching both resident as well as migratory birds for supplying to the many dhabas lined up on the side of the National Highway. Unrestrained poaching can wipe out entire populations and in some places have even resulted in birds avoiding the area. Hope, authorities can clamp down on this illegal poaching as well as take a holistic view in saving the unique ecosystem of Chilika so that man, bird and aquatic species can live in harmony.
Mr A S Bishnoi is a post graduate in Electronics. Apart from wildlife photography, he is an entomologist and qualified ornithologist. He has been contributing by participating in bird census of Chilika lake for the last 10 years. He planted Pune's first Sacred Grovesa nd also planted 1215 native saplings around his pune house. Both of them have reared more than 1300 butterfly in their house and their journey still continues.
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