Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary,Jamnagar:Home of Sea and Shore Birds
Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary,Jamnagar:Home of Sea and Shore Birds
Khijadiya Bird
Sanctuary, Jamnagar: Home of Sea and Shore Birds
Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary, the largest bird sanctuary in Gujarat is just
12 km away from the main city of Jamnagar . It was officially declared a sanctuary on 6th
November, 1982 (May, 1981 according to some reports). There was no way we could miss the sanctuary because a huge signboard beckoned us, “Welcome to Bird
Sanctuary Khijadiya Jamnagar”. We knew we were approaching a bird territory even
before we had reached it. We suddenly heard strange whistling sounds and I began
to think, “Is a car backing? I wonder why car manufacturers do not make more
such backing horns to stop noise pollution!” Then we saw white birds sitting on
the pebbly rivulet and we realized this was the source for those anti-noise
pollutants.
Khijadiya is a distinctive man-made wetland in the northeast coastal region of Jamnagar district, which is itself situated in a semi-arid biographic zone in India. The best time to visit this sanctuary is from October to March. The timings are 6:30 am to 6.00 pm.
We passed through Khijadiya village
and we noticed the world’s tallest bird, the sarus crane standing in a puddle. Small
village children played nearby but nobody was disturbing the bird and the crane
looked relaxed too. We reached the office and paid the car fee of rupees 250 and
camera fee of rupees 100.The gentleman at the office was very knowledgeable .He
took us to an Interpretation Center which is a storehouse of knowledge. Large
boards full of information adorned the walls. The center educates tourists on the
various species of resident and migratory birds that visit the sanctuary. There
are different models of birds erected in it, complete with nests and trees. It
is advisable to carry drinking water because when we visited the sanctuary, we
only saw lakes, birds, greenery and nothing else. This was in December, 2010.
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| Marshland |
There are abundant birds in this sanctuary
because it is situated at 70 degree -7`-17”east longitude and 22 degree
-31`-27” west latitude, a conducive breeding and wintering ground for migrating birds. It is located along the Indus flyway, one of the
world’s major routes for migratory birds, stretching from Siberia to the Indus
valley delta in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan, with a small portion
in western India’s Kutch. It is also close to the Gulf of Kutch, a central
Asian flyway route, which is an important migration path of water birds
covering Indian subcontinent, Africa and Southeast Asia.
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| Lake and Inland Vegetation Hosting a Lonely Snowy Egret |
The sanctuary is 6.05 square
km in length. On its one side is the sea and on the other side is fresh
water which makes it a unique coastal as well as freshwater wetland. There are
two embankments /bunds created to prevent saline water to flow into the
mainland and to stop fresh water draining into the sea. These bunds were
constructed by the royal family of Jamnagar before independence, in the 1920s and
30s, which has led to the formation of two fresh water lakes.
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| Embankment Separating the Sea and the Freshwater |
The bunds help to prevent the seepage of salty
water into the soil and to store freshwater in lakes drained from Ruparel and Kalindri
rivers. The bunds are constructed with a slope so that when the lakes overflow with rain water or surplus
water from the rivers, then the excess water flows into the Gulf of Kutch
(north-eastern arm of Arabian Sea) through the creeks on the other side of the
embankments. Healthy, marine vegetation like marshes, salt pans and mangroves grow
in these creeks. There are also various types of inland vegetation such as
prosopis juliflora, forest scrub, deshi babul, pilu and others. Sedges and tall
grass grow on the small islands in the lakes. Geographical features like mudflats,
marshy land and sandy beaches are found in the sanctuary. Farmlands border the
area.
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| A View of the Lake |
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Small Islands of Tall Grass
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| Garganey Ducks near Sedge Bushland |
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| Sandy Beach |
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Prosopis vegetation
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Mangroves
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Since it is a rare complex of
saltwater-freshwater wetland so there is a variety of habitats and ecosystem. It
provides conducive ‘breeding, feeding, roosting and staging grounds’ for diverse
marine and freshwater species of birds during various seasons of the year. Hence,
more than 250 to 300 species of birds congregate here, including the globally threatened
Dalmatian pelican, Asian open bill stork, black-headed ibis, Eurasian spoonbill,
Indian skimmer, painted stork and crab plover.
Black-necked storks which are not found
anywhere in India are seen here in abundance. Freshwater birds such as herons,
grebes etc. are found here. Brahminy kite, grey francolin, Indian spotted eagle,
pheasant-tailed jacana, common greenshank, garganey, common teal, comb duck,
Indian pond heron, demoiselle crane are sighted in this sanctuary. In 1984,
Salim Ali, the legendary Indian ornithologist and naturalist spotted 104 species of birds on a
single day here.
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| A Solitary Black Heron |
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| Lesser Flamingos |
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| Great Egret or Great White Heron |
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| Rosy Pelicans near Mudflats |
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| Dalmatian Pelicans: An Endangered Species and a Painted Stork in Flight |
This distinctive wetland attracts
a large number of birds to nest in the winter season of the year. There are
different types of nests —nests on trees, nests on the ground and nests on the
water (floating nests). Many varieties of ducks make floating nests.
There are two watch towers on the
eastern and northern parts. We came from the main road and turned right. The murram
road narrows considerably and on the left side is a huge lake. Brahminy ducks
were near the shore but at the sound of the Sumo they flew away and hid under
the water. I waited in vain to see them resurface because I could clearly hear
their quacking. But they refused to come up. As we were leaving, we saw the birds paddling
ferociously yet gracefully—power with poise.
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| Brahminy Ducks |
The lake narrowed into a stream
and in this stream, on a skeletal, forked wood sat 2 Cormorants: black with
yellow eyes, one of them stuck out its chest and stood upright. Another dried its wings.
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| Cormorants and Black-necked Ibis (at the distance) |
The sanctuary plays host to birds
who prefer marine, freshwater or both kinds of habitats as there is a
freshwater environment on one side of the bund and a marine environment on the
other. The birds get both types of food—freshwater and saltwater. The pelican
on the side of the sea gets its food from the salt pan. Cranes, hornbill, quail get their food from
the crop field. There is an unmistakable food chain. The fresh water breeds lush
vegetation and plankton. Fish and insects feed on them. Birds feed on these
fish and insects.
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Murram Pathways
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Then we came to another narrow
road which is sort of an uphill climb. The water below had dried up recently
because the mud was still wet. From here we could see the tail of a lake where a
lonely, large pelican looking like a small, white boat was floating in the water.
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A Pelican near Salt Pan
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But what’s this? From the mud dam we could see a gleaming, white, circular island
of huge, Casablanca lilies. Everything was very silent. Only a faint, unseen, gurgling
sound was coming from somewhere. It was a perfect, suspenseful setting for Alfred
Hitchcock’s movie ‘Birds’. We walked very slowly towards the small, white island through the walking tracks, crossed the shrub forests, came closer to the
lake and we were astounded at reality. A large group of uniform white storks with protruding backs, hunched their heads in a huddle, as if they were mourning or meditating or perhaps waiting for their kill.
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| Lily-like snowy Island of White Storks |
They continued to be
in a huddle and it seemed an eternity. We could not wait so long as we had
other things to watch. We climbed up a watchtower and saw a view of another lake
where mallard ducks were making the afternoon-shadow on the water blacker, with their
shiny black coat. Amidst the huge water bodies are small islands complete with trees
and shrubs or a single tree. In some places the shadow of the tree was shaping
the water with its blackish rondure.
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| Island with Pilu and Deshi Babul Trees |
Then we came back to the lily-like
island and there was a slight movement in the mass of white. A white stork flew away and we could see its large, orange beak and webbed feet. Another flew away, then another until there were only a few left, holding
the fort. Did we disturb them? It seemed as if the young had flown away leaving
the old and infirm behind. No country for old birds.
Nilgais (antelopes), wolves, mongoose,
jackals, rabbits, jungle cats and a few varieties of snakes are also found in Khijadiya
bird sanctuary but we did not see any of them.
When we went in 2010, in December, we were the
only visitors there along with our driver. The setting was peaceful. The guide
forbade our Sumo to go to all places because the roosting and nesting of birds
might be disturbed.
But according to some reports, in
2016 there was a drastic fall in the number of migratory birds .This decline is
attributed to the construction and development activities inside the sanctuary causing
large stretches of vegetation to be cut down. Lots of benches are placed near
water bodies so that visitors can watch birds; completely heedless of the fact
that such close proximity of humans might disturb the birds. Khijadiya Bird
Sanctuary has now become a ‘tourist spot’ or ‘public park’ wherein visitors talk loudly, burst firecrackers when
there is a marriage party. But hopefully all efforts are being made by nature lovers,
bird enthusiasts, ornithologists to preserve this exceptional
freshwater-saltwater sanctuary and stop its despoilment.
You can combine a visit to the sanctuary and a pilgrimage because the ancient, holy city ,Dwarka is just 148 km away and Nageshwar Jyotirling is 16 km away from Dwarka. Jamnagar is connected by road
through private, luxury buses and state transport buses to all important cities
from Gujarat especially Ahmedabad and Vadodara. There are daily trains on the
western railway with direct connections to Ahmedabad. Various domestic flights
connect Jamnagar to Mumbai and Jamnagar airport is just 10 km away from the main city.
Jamnagar Refinery, a crude oil refinery owned by Reliance Industries Limited is in Moti Khavdi which is just 58 km from Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary (1 hour 19 minutes via NH 947) . It is the largest refinery in the world and located so close to a functioning coastal ecosystem is abundant proof that nothing is impossible. Environment and Economy can coexist harmoniously. There can be a symbiosis between commerce, cash and undisturbed natural habitat.
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Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar,
and soaring ever singest.
(P.B. Shelley)
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Photographs: Bulbul Sur
Tags: Salt pan, Mangrove, Murram Pathways, Moti Khavdi, Dwarka, Prosopis
