While humans are forced to stay inside their homes, a record-breaking number of flamingos start to flock in Navi Mumbai painting India in pink.

Flamingos have migrated to Mumbai since the 1980s between October and March for feeding. Flamingo species include the greater flamingo which is the taller and most widespread species, and the near-threatened lesser flamingo which are shorter and pinker in color.

However, residents say that the population of the flamingos seems to have increased as they witnessed a large number of the birds hanging out on the mudflats of Thane Creek. Social media users have shared footages showing hundreds of thousands of birds bobbing on the murky green waters in April, and lighting up the lakes at night.

150,000 Flamingos migrated to Mumbai

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) estimates an increase of 25% of flamingos migrating to the country this year compared to last year. According to them, there are about 150,000 flamingos who made the migratory journey to Mumbai this 2020.

According to BNHS, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is the second-largest habitat of flamingos along the west coast after Kutch, Gujarat. The BNHS has begun monitoring flamingo numbers since May 2018, under a 10-year exercise.

As fishing activities are currently on hold, different areas along the Thane creek flamingo sanctuary were also witnessing large congregations of the birds. Deepak Apte, BNHS director, said that a major reason for the sudden surge in numbers of flamingos migrating is also the large flocks of juveniles moving to these sites owing to the successful breeding two years ago.

Environmentalists speculate that reduced human activity could have led to more favorable conditions for searching their food, with the whole country under lockdown since March 25. Other than that, they could not think of other explanations for the spike in numbers of the flamingos migrating to Mumbai.

Lockdown Effect

Since areas near Thane Creek and the Talawe wetlands are usually buzzing with construction work, fishing activities, and movements of people, there have not been much of flamingos seen before. But the lockdown is giving these birds peace for roosting, no disturbance in their attempt to obtain food, and overall encourages the birds for habitat, explained by Deepak Apte the director of BNHS to the Hindustan Times.

Additionally, flamingos are pushed away from their preferred widespread locations and into smaller pockets like in Navi Mumbai due to wetland destruction along Mumbai's seaboard. Conservationists are worried that further development of the Uran wetlands- which was home to flamingos and recently reclaimed for the construction of an airport- could displace the population of the birds.

Indian authorities granted permission last year for India's first Bullet train to pass through Thane Creek's protected flamingo sanctuary, reported by The Guardian. The construction of the 22 kilometer Mumbai Trans Harbor Link sea bridge has damaged much of Navi Mumbai's bird-friendly mangroves and mudflats and could eventually drive the flamingos away from the area.

Mumbai has always been the destination of flamingos from Kutch, Gujarat and Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan in northwestern India every year. BNHS said that some of the birds also fly to nearby countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Israel, or faraway places like France.