Special avian guests to arrive soon to paint Thane Creek pink

The birds take some 12 to 17 hours to reach Thane Creek, and start leaving their breeding grounds in Gujarat only after the monsoon waters dry up and there is less availability of food. This year, because of a prolonged monsoon, they’ve arrived past their usual date

Mumbai: It is that time of the year when flamingoes descend on Mumbai’s cooler climes after flying for hours from afar, dotting the shores pink. For the past four to six weeks, the avian beauties have begun flocking to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in large numbers, following a delayed monsoon withdrawal.

Around three years ago, flamingo numbers began to explode at the TSC-NRI wetland complex near Palm Beach road in Belapur, which has yielded some of the most striking visuals of flamingos in MMR in recent times – forsaking Uran’s wetlands. It was speculated that there was a direct link between the Covid-19 lockdown and the explosion of flamingo numbers, that the birds were perhaps undisturbed for the first time due to the reduction in human activity. (Nayan Khanolkar)

While their presence close to the shore at Sewri, on the city’s east coast, has diminished somewhat since the construction of the Trans-Harbour Link began in early 2021, there are still a number of spots fringed across the Thane Creek (and beyond) where citizens can catch a glimpse of these florid creatures.

Rahul Khot, assistant director at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), who is leading the first-of-its-kind, long-term survey to assess flamingo behaviour and populations in Thane Creek, said the seasonal peak in numbers is approaching soon. “The birds take some 12 to 17 hours to reach Thane Creek, and start leaving their breeding grounds in Gujarat only after the monsoon waters dry up and there is less availability of food. This year, because of a prolonged monsoon, they’ve arrived past their usual date,” Khot said.

“Mid-February to mid-April, early May is the best time to see them in their largest congregations. Many flocks also fly further south in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and they stop over in Thane Creek on their return journeys at that time. Depending on the time, they can be seen even from the Sewri jetty in a few thousand, but at a bit of a distance,” Khot added.

Currently, officials in the state forest department’s mangrove cell estimated that around 30,000 individuals have already arrived across the larger landscape of Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS). In 2021-2022, their numbers touched a record 133,000 individuals, with most being greater flamingoes.

While the MMR has been quick to incorporate the annual migrants into their regional lore (Navi Mumbai has even officially adopted the moniker of being a ‘Flamingo City’), the future is not all rosy.

Until not too long ago, the landscape around Uran, a fishing village in Navi Mumbai, was considered a bird-watching hotspot. During winter, large congregations of flamingos and other migratory birds could be seen along a 30km-long patchwork of wetlands at Uran’s Panje and Funde villages, south of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

Around three years ago, flamingo numbers began to explode at the TSC-NRI wetland complex near Palm Beach road in Belapur, which has yielded some of the most striking visuals of flamingos in MMR in recent times – forsaking Uran’s wetlands. It was speculated that there was a direct link between the Covid-19 lockdown and the explosion of flamingo numbers, that the birds were perhaps undisturbed for the first time due to the reduction in human activity.

But the real reason is more complex, with local residents and environmental experts claiming that Uran’s wetlands have been systemically reclaimed and dried out, as dumping of mud and construction debris into water bodies and mangrove swamps has been a regular occurrence in the area for about a decade, due to industrial and urban expansion.

At least four major wetlands -- Panje, Belpada, Bhendkhal and Dastan Phata -- have been completely dried out in recent years, either through dumping of mud or through the willful stoppage of intertidal waters by authorities, who have been reprimanded for the same by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

“The importance of these satellite wetlands cannot be emphasised enough. The bridge across Thane Creek itself may not pose a threat to the future of these birds, but the destruction of these satellite wetlands certainly does,” said another researcher with BNHS.

There are six “critical satellite wetlands” which have been identified by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), and which were proposed to be declared as conservation reserves or community reserves to ease development pressures, including Bhandup (11 ha) in Mumbai, Panje (124 ha), Belpada (30 ha), Bhendkhal (8 ha) in Uran, Training Ship Chanakya (13 ha) and NRI Complex (19 ha) in Navi Mumbai. A proposal to protect these wetlands has been pending with the forest department since 2020.