Thousands of migratory birds, including Ferruginous ducks, Northern Shovelers, Pintails, Common teal, Common cranes and Black-tailed godwits, have started arriving in the wetlands near Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district, but most of the swamps have been drained, leading to fears that the birds could fly away to an alternate habitat.

The wetlands have been drained by local farmers, bird watchers said. “This is an excellent habitat for migratory birds. But this year there is hardly any room for them. The swamps and wetlands have been drained for agricultural activity and tractors are ploughing the land,” said Ashish Loya, a birder.

“Last year there were nearly 20,000 birds here,” Loya added. “This year, the birds will most certainly look for alternate habitat if there is no water.”

The migratory birds arrive from Siberia, central Asia and Mongolia in October and stay till around March. The Central Asian Flyway is among nine aerial highways for waterbirds that has overlapping migration routes over 30 countries. It links their northern breeding grounds in Siberia and southernmost wintering grounds in the West, South Asia and the Maldives. Several wetlands in India are on the flyway.

Uttar Pradesh government officials said most of these swamps are on private agricultural land.

“Drying up of wetlands under the forest department to certain extent is an annual feature,” an official said, seeking anonymity. “There are two types of wetland, where one gets water naturally and others are man made. If water in wetland has receded, it can be filled with manual exercise before the migratory birds from far off start arriving.”

“Regarding Bhikund wetland in Hastinapur, about 99.9 % of the wetland area belongs to private farmers. In that area they are entitled to do farming activities (generational rights), even as per Hastinapur sanctuary gazette notification of February 2,” said Rajesh Kumar, divisional forest officer, Meerut. “For better protection and conservation of this wetland, there is need to acquire these private land from farmers. With the help of district administration, we are trying to formulate a project to acquire the private land.”

India’s birds are facing a significant decline in numbers, revealing a silent, gradual change in population dynamics. Around 60% of bird species are recording long-term decline in numbers, while 40% of them are declining in recent years, according to the 2023 State of Indian Birds report released in August.

There are now 178 avian species in India classified as “high conservation priority,” meaning that their abundance continues to decline after a considerable drop in numbers over the years, and the sharpest decline in numbers is among species found in so-called open ecosystems or habitats, which typically have no protection.

That number is up from 101 in the last report, released in 2020. Worryingly, the number of long-distance migrants has declined by 50%, with those that breed in the Arctic but winter in India seeing a decline of as much as 80%.