The Creation of Desert : Flamingo

Kutch's main feature is its 20,720 square km desert, white, salty and like crystal. In this desert, a place I called 'Surkhabnagar' in which you won't find any human habitat.  It is a home of Flamingoes.  In Asia, Flamingoes are found only in the big desert of Kutch

When the water from sea spreads on this desert in monsoon, it creates little ponds of mud everywhere.  In this ponds grows moss little bugs makes them this home.  With the sufficient food source and the security, you won't find any hunter birds here.  In these ponds, flamingoes build their nest and lay their eggs.  Flamingoes live in big groups.  They land into these ponds in the month of September and October and built nests near each other by making little hills of mud.  After few days, they build around one foot tall and 10 inch wide nests.  When the mud dries in sun, the female flamingo lay one or two light blue eggs in nest and male and female hatch the eggs turn by turn.  Form the vein of neck of flamingo comes the red liquid like milk that they feed to their newborn.

Many say that flamingo migrates from the cold regions to India in winter but actually they live in India only.  After their newborn get old, they spread in the other islands of India. Flamingoes live near river ends, channels, ponds and near sea levels after monsoon.

Flamingoes have special place among tall birds. They live on earth since last 5 billion years they are 4 feet tall and has long neck and pink color wings.  Their bodies are small compare to their height.  Their eyes are red.  They fly in-groups in shape of the letter 'V' or sometimes in long row.

In Gujrati they called them 'Surkhab' Fishermen in Maharastra's coast line call them 'Rohini' or 'Rohit'.  In Kutchi, they call them 'Hanj' and also known as 'Lakhe-Ja-Jani'.  Thousand years ago the king of Kutch called Lakho Fulani was nature lover.  He said that this 'Hanj' are the guests of Kutch and so if anyone tried to hunt them, he used to punish them severely.  So that’s why flamingoes are also known as 'Lakhe-Ja-Jani' in Kutchi.

Kutch's Maharav Khengarji Bawa was also a good hunter and nature lover.  He informed ' Bombay natural History Society' hatch eggs.  This was published in 1896 general of the society.  According to this, there were around 5,00,000 birds there.  Late Dr. Salim Ali also supported it, after he visited the big desert of Kutch and studied it well.  The region from Khavda to Khadibet in the middle Khanjda hill in big desert, then known as 'Surkhabnagar'.

There are four kinds of spices of flamingo in the world today and among them the greater and the lessor flamingoes are found in India.  The difference between these two is that lessor flamingo as darker pink color wings then the grater flamingoes.

Modern world's industrialization also affected the habitats of flamingo.  When locust attacked Kutch few years back, they sprinkled worm control medicines in this region.  This medicine mixed with rainwater and mixed with the river water and came in the desert.  Due to this, the moss of the mud pond and other bugs were swept away and the lack of food affected the lives of flamingoes.  To survive they had to move to other place. But among the human habitats, they found less space for them and they divided themselves into small groups.  Due to the security reasons at the border, the army also came and goes through this area which affected their quietness.  Little time ago, flamingoes' group came to Mumbai's Shivri area.

We have to save flamingo, as we are also the part of nature and survival of all can only stop earth from getting desolate and barren. 

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