Migration of birds is a fascinating subject. It points to an amazing feature of relationship between Nature and living species. Interdependence of different species is brought to the fore by such migration. As many as 176 species are said to be set out from chilly Siberia and Himalayan ranges to this part of the world for food and shelter during the winter season. With the approach of winter when vast swathes in Europe, China and Mongolia experience snow, blizzard and thick layers of ice in temperature up to minus 40 degree Celsius, few, if any, species can survive there. Birds have known for thousands of years that they must migrate to warmer lands for their survival. Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are the destinations of migrant birds.
This is understandable that their survival instinct prompts the birds from cold climes to fly to locations where winter is not as severe as it is in Europe and some other places. But what is rather puzzling is the precise following of the flight route by birds of various shapes and sizes. Some are very small and others are quite large and all make it to the safer destinations through accurate navigation. In Africa, the wildebeest, zebra and even elephants cover long distances in times of summer and droughts, following the same routes generation after generation. Of them, the matriarch in a group of elephants inherits the uncanny ability to recognise the route to be followed. More daring is the adventure of salmon fish in that they travel thousands of miles through the turbulent sea to return to the place of their birth to lay eggs and complete a life cycle.
Birds, it is said, remember geographic location in order to make it to their yearly rendezvous. Some fly very high above the mountain ranges and others through them. Unless disturbed or the location gets fundamentally altered, the birds visit the same place every season. If they discover abundant foods in a new location, they just change their destinations within a certain geographic location. Yet some fly over the seas and oceans. How do they make the trip? They are not supposed to have any geographic site to remember when overflying an ocean. Here experts are inclined to believe that the birds use magnetic fields in order to trace their migration routes.
Whatever may be the case, the winged creatures are indeed a wonder of Nature. That they make this land their temporary home should be considered a great gift from the scheme of creation. They arrive here in great numbers with the hope that they would return home safe. But this is always not the case. Reportedly, the number of migrant birds is dwindling almost every year and this year is no exception. Ornithologists report that the guest birds have significantly decreased in numbers in most locations this year. One reason is definitely the shrinking of water bodies in this country. The other reason is the failure to discourage poaching of guest birds from haors, beels and swamps.
However against hostile reception, there are heart-warming stories. The feathery friends have a sixth sense acuter than human's. There are instances when a few of them opt for trees and hedges on a homestead in a village. They stay back and raise chicks on tree tops or branches of bushy bamboos without fear. Even they share the ponds with the owners of the homesteads. This is rather intriguing. How do they know no harms will come their way from their hosts? Even their human friends defend the birds against their hunters. Foreknowledge such as this is rare even in human beings. Man often makes mistakes in making choice of friends but these flying creatures do not. There lies the mystery of creation.
Creation at its most sublime does not differentiate between man and other animals. Man has the capacity to rise to that spiritual height. Animals do not only respond amply but have prescience enough to appeal to people's hearts. No wonder, man-animal relations of the most sublime type have often made great stories throughout ages.
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