Saif wanted to visit the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan during his summer vacation. His father suggested that it would be better if he takes the trip in the winter season as there will be more variety of birds than in the summer. What do you think is the possible reason behind his planning the trip in winter and not in summer?
Migration is the temporary movement of an organism from a stressful habitat to a more favourable location.
The Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan is a vast protected bird sanctuary which hosts a large number of non-migratory resident breeding birds and many different species of animals throughout the year. But it is famous for being the wintering ground for many migratory aquatic birds coming from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia, due to its strategic location in the middle of one of the migratory routes of aquatic birds, known as the Central Asian migratory flyway.
Winters in countries such as Siberia can be very harsh for the survival of several birds, e.g, the Siberian Crane. Thus, they prefer migrating away to warmer habitats such as the one provided by the Keoladeo National Park. The winters in this sanctuary are mild and favourable for the birds.
The reason why Saif’s father suggested that he takes the trip to the Keoladeo National Park in the winter is that the variety of birds inhabiting the sanctuary increases due to the incoming migratory birds.